Y 


.'-,  / 

u  I 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


IN  MEMORY  OF 
MRS.  VIRGINIA  B.  SPORER 


NEW    OKLEANS 


NEW  ORLEANS 


THE    PLACE   AND   THE    PEOPLE 


BY 
GRACE   KING 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

Neiu    York    igijj 
LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  co.  LIMITED 


COPYRIGHT,  1895, 
BY  MAOMILLAN   AND  CO. 


Set   up  and  electrotyped  November,  1895.      Reprinted   January, 
1896;  June,  1899;  October,  1902  ;  March,  1904;  April,  1907; 
December,  1911  ;  April,  1913  ;   August,  1915. 


Norfaooti 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


371 


TO  THE  MEMORY 

OF 

(^agarr'e 


2041662 


INTRODUCTION       ....        o         ..... 

CHAPTER   I. 
HISTORY  OF  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 

Crescent   City. — Pineda. — De   Soto.  —  De    la   Salle. — 
Pierre  Lemoyne  d'Iberville    ....... 

CHAPTER   II. 
COLONIZATION  OF  LOUISIANA. 

Jean    Baptiste    Le   Moyne  de  Bienville.  —  Pennicaut.  — 
Story  of  St.  Denis 


PAGE 

XV 


CHAPTER   V. 

Indian  troubles.  —  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil.  —  Charity  Hos- 
pital founded.  —  Louisiana's   first  drama.  —  Jeannot.  —  De 
Kerlerec.  —  Swiss  mutiny  .  —  Jumonville  de  Villiers  .  —  Treaty 
of  Paris.  —  Little  Manchac.  —  Jesuits  and  Capuchins,  Father 
Ge"novaux       .......... 

vii 


14 


CHAPTER  III. 

FOUNDING  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Law.  —  Duke  of  Orleans.  —  Mississippi  scheme.  —  Specu- 
lation emigration.  —  Manon  Lescaut.  —  New  Orleans  laid 
out.  —  Le  Page  du  Pratz.  —  Immigration.  —  Dubois  incident,  33 


CHAPTER   IV. 
THE  URSULINE  SISTERS. 

Shipments  of  girls.  —  Contract  with  Ursulines  of  Rouen. 
—  Madeleine  Hachard.  —  Voyage  across  the  ocean.  —  Arrival 
in  New  Orleans.  —  Installation  in  convent.  —  Our  Lady  of 
Prompt  Succour.  —  New  Ursuline  Convent  .... 


51 


75 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VI.  PAGE 

CESSION  TO  SPAIN. 

Louis  XV.  —  Due  de  Choiseul.  —  Cession  to  Spain  made 
known  in  New  Orleans.  —  Action  of  citizens.  — Lafre"niere. — 
Delegation  in  Paris.  —  Aubry.  —  Ulloa.  —  Madame  Pradel. 
—  Expulsion  of  Ulloa 89 

CHAPTER   VII. 
SPANISH  DOMINATION. 

O'Reilly.  —  Arrest  of  patriots. — Death  of  Viller6.  — Trial 
and  execution  of  patriots.  —  Unzaga.  —  Father  Ge"novaux 
and  Father  Dagobert.  —Father  Cirilo's  report.  — Galvez. — 
Julian  Poydras  .........  107 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

SPANISH  ADMINISTRATION. 

Miro.  —  Conflagration.  —  Don  Andres  Almonaster.  —  Ba- 
ronne  de  Pontalba.  —  Padre  Antonio  de  Sedella.  — Western 
trade.  —  Visit  of  Chickasaw  and  Choctaw  chiefs. — Caron- 
delet.  —  Revolutionary  ideas. — New  Orleans  fortified. — 
Treaty  of  Madrid.  —  First  bishop  of  Louisiana.  —  First  news- 
paper. —  First  Free  Mason's  lodge.  —  First  theatre.  —  Gayoso 
de  Lemos.  —  Royal  visitors.  —  Casa  Calvo.  —  Treaty  of  St. 
Ildefonso  ;  France  again  possesses  Louisiana.  —  Salcedo.  — 
Free  navigation  of  Mississippi  demanded  by  Western  people,  128 

CHAPTER    IX. 
AMERICAN  DOMINATION. 

Jefferson's  purchase  of  Louisiana. — Laussat.  —  Transfer 
of  government  from  Spain  to  France.  —  Transfer  from  France 
to  United  States.  —  Governor  Claiborne.  —  American  recon- 
struction. —  Robin's  description  of  New  Orleans.  —  Refugees 
from  St.  Domingo.  —  Pere  Antoine.  — First  Fourth  of  July 
celebration. — Law  and  practice. — College  of  Orleans. — 
Lakanal  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  155 

CHAPTER   X. 
THE  BARATARIANS. 

The  black  flag  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  — The  Lafittes. — 
Barataria.  —  Efforts  of  state  and  national  government 
against  contraband  trade.  —  Criminal  prosecution  of  the 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PAGE 

Lafittes.  —  English  overtures  to  Jean  Lafitte.  —  Lafitte's  offer 
to  Claiborne.  —  Lafitte  episode.  —  Breaking  up  of  pirate's 
retreat  by  United  States  authorities.  —  Baratarians  at  battle 
of  New  Orleans.  —  Lafitte  at  Galveston.  —  Dominique  You  .  187 

CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  GLORIOUS  EIGHTH  OP  JANUARY. 

Downfall  of  Napoleon.  —  Fears  of  British  invasion.  —  Prep- 
arations. —  Arrival  of  Jackson  in  New  Orleans.  —  British 
fleet  in  Lake  Bargue. — Engagement  with  United  States 
boats.  —-British  enter  Bayou  Bienvenu.  — ViHer^'s  capture 
and  escape.  —  Jackson  musters  his  men.  —  British  forces.  — 
Fight  of  23d  December.  — Jackson's  position.  — Pakenham. 
—  British  attack  of  27th  December. — Eighth  of  January  .  211 

CHAPTEE   XII. 
ANTE-BELLUM  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Celebration  of  the  victory.  —  First  steamboat.  — Faubourg 
Ste.  Marie.  —  De  Bor6  plantation. — Mademoiselle  de  Ma- 
carty.  —  Summer  life  under  the  ancien  regime. — Duke  of 
Saxe- Weimar.  —  Lafayette.  — American  development,  busi- 
ness, theatres,  first  Protestant  church.  —  Buckingham's  de- 
scription of  New  Orleans.  — America  Vespucci,  Henry  Clay, 
Lady  Wortley . — Fredericka  Bre in er. — Epidemics. — Metairie 
race-track. — Under  the  Oaks — Duelling  ....  262 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

WAR. 

Capture  of  city  by  Federals.  —  General  Butler  takes  pos- 
session.—  Hanging  of  Mumford. — Federal  domination. — 
Military  government.  —  Reconstruction.  —  Fourteenth  of 
September 298 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
THE  CONVENT  or  THE  HOLY  FAMILY. 

Death  of  Mother  Juliette.  —  Gens  de  Couleur.  —  African 
slaves.  —  African  Creole  songs.  —  Zabet  Philosophe.  • —  Congo 
Square.  —  Voudou  meetings.  —  Quadroons.  —  Founding  of 
the  convent.  —  Orleans  ball-room.  —  Thorny  Lafon  .  .  332 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XV. 
CONCLUSION. 

Fourteenth  of  July.  —  Moreau  Gottschalk.  —  Paul  Morphy. 
—  John  McDonogh.  —  Judah  Touro.  —  Margaret.  —  Paul 
Tulane.  —  Tulane  University  of  Louisiana.  —  H.  Sophie 
Newcomb  College.  —  Howard  Memorial  Library.  —  The 
Carnival.  — All  Saints.  —  Cemeteries.  —  Charles  Gayarre1  .  354 


Iiivstmions 


The  Cabildo . 

Swamp  Scene        .         .  . 

Spanish  Dagger 

Palmetto  Palm      ..... 

On  Rue  Bienville  ..... 

Lugger  Landing  at  Old  Basin 

Banana  Tree          ..... 

On  Bayou  St.  John        .... 

Court  House  in  which  Jackson  was  tried 

Villa  on  Bayou  St.  John 

Indian  Weapons   ..... 

Sun-dial  at  Ursuline  Convent 

Front  View  of  Ursuline  Convent  . 

Back  of  Old  Ursuline  Convent 

Tiled-roof  House  on  Chartres  St. 

Interior  of  Archbishop's  Palace     . 

Knocker  on  Porter's  Lodge  . 

Indian  Baskets      ..... 

Old  Slave  Quarters        .... 

Tignon  Creole         .  ... 

Pomegranates 

xi 


Frontispiece 


PAGE 

5 


13 
14 
19 
31 
33 
35 
47 
49 
51 
53 
58 
66 
70 
73 
75 
78 
84 


xii  ILL  US  TEA  TIONS. 

PAGE 

Spanish  Houses  on  Rue  du  Maine         ......  89 

Courtyard  of  the  "Old  Baths" 92 

In  the  French  Quarter  .........  96 

Old  Plantation  House 101 

Old  Spanish  Iron  Railing      ........  105 

Old  Gateway  on  Rue  du  Maine     .         .        .        .        .         .        .111 

A  Creole  Darky 117 

Old  Spanish  Courtyard          .         . 123 

Spanish  Dagger  in  Bloom 127 

Iron  Railing  on  Pontalba  Building 128 

Doorway  of  Old  Arsenal 135 

Gateway  at  Spanish  Fort 144' 

Dago  Boats  at  Old  Basin       ........  146 

French  Opera  House «...  149 

Transom  in  Pontalba  Building      .......  154 

Gateway  in  Cabildo      .........  160 

Window  and  Balcony  in  Cabildo 162 

Residence  of  First  Mayor  of  New  Orleans    .....  164 

Interior  of  Old  Absinthe  House    .......  170 

"Mammy" 173 

Cathedral  Alley ....  175 

French  Market ...  181 

The  City  Seal ...  186 

The  Jolly  Rover 187 

A  Baratarian 193 

On  the  Levee 197 

Sword  of  Lafitte 206 

Grave  of  Dominique  You      ....                 ...  208 

The  Gulf  of  Mexico 210 

Door  of  Villa  on  Bayou  St.  John .......  214 

Near  the  Battle-Ground 246 

Lamp  on  French  Opera  House      .......  252 

Jackson's  Monument 255 

First  Four-story  Building  in  New  Orleans 259 

Exchange  Alley 269 

Parish  Prison 275 

Lamp  Post  at  Jackson  Square 281 

In  the  St.  Louis  Cemetery 282 

Mortuary  Chapel  ..........  283 

Study  of  "  Ovens  "  in  St.  Louis  Cemetery 286 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  Xlii 

PAGE 

A  Corner  of  the  French  Market 287 

The  Duelling  Oaks .291 

Cafe"  at  City  Park 293 

Fourteenth  of  September  Monument 327 

Cross  in  St.  Louis  Coloured  Cemetery  ......  332 

Sister  of  the  "  Holy  Family  " 334 

"  Une  bonne  Vieille  Gardienne  " 336 

A  Negro  Type 343 

Stairway  in  Convent  of  Holy  Family 349 

New  Orleans  from  River      .....                 .  354 

Benjamin  Franklin 357 

Tower  and  Portico,  St.  Paul's  Church  ....                 .  365 

"  Saint  John's  "  Steeple 369 

Dome  of  Jesuit  Church          ........  373 

Cloister  of  Christ  Church  Cathedral 376 

Tulane  University 383 

Corner  of  Howard  Library   ........  388 

A  Bit  of  Cornice 389 

Bceuf  Gras 394 

Chapel  of  St.  Roche 395 

Tomb  of  the  Ursuline  Nuns,  St.  Roche  Cemetery        .         .        .  397 

Rear  View  of  City        .                 402 


TTTE  personify  cities  by  ascribing  to  them  the  femi- 
*  *  nine  gender,  yet  this  is  a  poor  rule  for  general 
use  ;  there  are  so  many  cities  which  we  can  call  women 
only  by  a  dislocation  of  the  imagination.  But  there 
are  also  many  women  whom  we  call  women  only  by 
grammatical  courtesy.  Indeed,  it  must  be  confessed 
that,  as  the  world  moves,  personification,  like  many 
other  amiable  ancestral  liberties  of  speech,  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  a  mere  conventionality,  significant, 
only,  according  to  a  standard  of  the  sexes  no  longer 
ours. 

New  Orleans,  —  before  attempting  to  describe  it,  one 
pauses  again  to  reflect  on  the  value  of  impressions. 
Which  is  the  better  guarantee  of  truth,  the  eye  or  the 
heart  ?  Perhaps,  when  one  speaks  of  one's  native  place, 
neither  is  trustworthy.  Is  either  ever  trustworthy 
when  directed  by  love  ?  Does  not  the  birthplace,  like 
the  mother,  or  with  the  mother,  implicate  both  eye  and 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

heart  into  partiality,  even  from  birth  ?  And  this  in 
despite  of  intelligence,  nay,  of  common  sense  itself? 
May  only  those,  therefore,  who  have  no  mother  and  no 
birthplace  misapprehend  the  impressions  of  one  fast  in 
the  thralls  of  the  love  of  both. 

New  Orleans  is,  among  cities,  the  most  feminine  of 
women,  always  using  the  old  standard  of  feminine 
distinction. 

Were  she  in  reality  the  woman  she  is  figuratively, 
should  we  not  say  that  she  is  neither  tall  nor  short,  fair 
nor  brown,  neither  grave  nor  gay  ?  But  is  she  not  in 
truth  more  gay  than  grave  ?  Has  she  not  been  called 
frivolous?  It  is  so  easy  nowadays  to  call  a  woman 
frivolous.  In  consequence,  the  wholesome  gayety  of 
the  past  seems  almost  in  danger  of  being  reproached 
out  of  sight,  if  not  out  of  existence.  It  is  true,  New 
Orleans  laughs  a .  great  deal.  And  although  every 
household  prefers  at  its  head  a  woman  who  can  laugh, 
every  household,  ruled  by  a  woman  who  cannot  laugh, 
asperses  the  laugh  as  frivolous. 

Cities  and  women  are  forgetting  how  to  laugh. 
Laughter  shows  a  mind  in  momentary  return  to  para- 
disiacal carelessness :  what  woman  ^  of  the  present  is 
careless  enough  to  laugh  ?  Unless  she  be  an  actress  on 
the  stage  and  well  paid  for  it  !  (One  never  supposes 
them  to  laugh  off  the  stage  and  for  nothing.)  Women 
can  smile,  and  they  do  smile  much  nowadays.  When 
they  are  prosperous,  the  constant  sight  of  a  well-gilded 
home  and  a  well-filled  pocketbook  produces  a  smile, 
which,  in  the  United  States,  the  land  of  gilded  homes 
and  well-filled  pocketbooks  has  become  stereotyped  on 
their  faces,  and  American  babies  may  even  be  said  to 
be  born,  at  present,  with  that  smile  on  their  mouths. 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

But  the  laugh,  that  "sudden  glory"  which  in  a  flash 
eclipses  in  the  heart  sorrow,  poverty,  stress,  even  dis- 
grace, it  has  become  obsolete  among  them.  Smiling 
people  can  never  become  laughing  people;  their  devel- 
opment forbids  it. 

New  Orleans  is  not  a  Puritan  mother,  nor  a  hardy 
Western  pioneeress,  if  the  term  be  permitted.  She  is, 
on  the  contrary,  simply  a  Parisian,  who  came  two  cen- 
turies ago  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  —  partly  out 
of  curiosity  for  the  New  World,  partly  out  of  ennui  for 
the  Old  —  and  who,  "  Ma  f oi !  "  as  she  would  say  with 
a  shrug  of  her  shoulders,  has  never  cared  to  return  to 
her  mother  country.  She  has  had  her  detractors,  indeed 
calumniators,  with  their  whispers  and  sneers  about 
houses  of  correction,  —  deportation,  —  but,  it  may  be 
said,  those  who  know  her  care  too  little  for  such  gos- 
sip to  resent  it ;  those  who  know  her  not,  know  as 
little  of  the  class  to  which  they  attribute  her  origin. 

There  is  no  subtler  appreciator  of  emotions  than  the 
Parisian  woman,  —  emotions  they  were  in  the  colonial 
days,  now  they  are  sensations.  And  there  are  no 
amateurs  of  emotional  novelty  to  compare  to  Parisian 
women.  The  France  of  Louis  XIV.  was  domed  over 
with  a  royalty  as  vast  and  limitless  as  the  heaven  of  to- 
day. The  court,  with  its  sun-king  and  titled  zodiac, 
was  practically  the  upward  limit  of  sight  and  hope  for 
a  whole  people.  In  what  a  noonday  glare  from  this 
artificial  heaven,  did  Paris,  so  nigh  to  the  empyrean, 
lie!  Its  tinsel  splendours,  even  more  generously  than 
the  veritable  sunlight  itself,  fell  upon  the  crowded 
streets  and  teeming  lodgings.  Nay,  there  was  not  a 
nook  nor  a  cranny  of  poverty,  crime,  disease,  suffering, 
vice,  filth,  that  could  not,  if  it  wished,  enjoy  a  ray  of 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

the  illumination  that  formed  the  atmosphere  in  which, 
their  celestial  upper  classes  lived  and  loved,  with  the* 
immemorial  manners  and  language  which  contemporary 
poets,  without  anachronism,  fitted  so  well  to  the  goda 
and  goddesses  of  classic  Greece.  The  dainty  filigree 
of  delicacies  and  refinements,  the  sensuous  luxuries, 
the  sumptuous  furnitures  of  body  and  mind,  the  silks, 
satins,  velvets,  brocades,  ormolu,  tapestry;  the  drama, 
poetry,  music,  painting,  sculpture,  dancing  (for,  in  the 
reign  of  the  Grand  Monarque  dancing  also  must  be 
added  to  the  fine  arts);  and  that  constant  May-day,  as 
it  may  be  called,  on  a  Field  of  Cloth  of  Gold,  for 
pleasure  and  entertainment  —  all  this  became,  to  the 
commonest  Parisian  and  the  general  Frenchman,  as 
commonplace  and  as  unsatisfactorily  inaccessible,  as 
our  own  Celestial  sphere  has  become  to  the  average 
citizen  of  to-day. 

Over  in  America,  it  was  vast  forests  before  them, 
fabulous  streams,  new  peoples,  with  new  languages, 
religions,  customs,  manners,  beauty,  living  in  naked 
freedom,  in  skin-covered  wigwams,  palmetto-thatched 
huts,  with  all  the  range  of  human  thrills  of  sensation,  in 
all  the  range  of  physical  adventure.  This  was  heaven 
enough  to  stir  the  Gallic  blood  still  flowing  in  some 
hardy  veins  of  France. 

Women,  however,'  like  not  these  things,  but  they  love 
the  men  who  do.  And,  when  the  Parisian  women  fol- 
lowed their  hearts,  that  they  did  not  leave  behind  in 
France  their  ideals  nor  their  realities  of  brocades,  snuff- 
boxes,  high-heeled  slippers,  euphemisms,  minuets,  and 
gavottes ;  that  they  refused  to  eat  corn-bread,  and  de- 
manded slaves  in  their  rough-hewn  cabins,  —  all  of  this, 
from  the  genial  backward  glance  of  to-day,  adds  a 


IN  TR  OD  UCTION.  XIX 

piquant,  rather  than  a  hostile,  flavouring  to  the  colonial 
situation. 

In  Canada,  the  Frenchwomen  were  forced  by  the 
rigorous  necessities  of  climate  and  savage  war,  to  burst 
with  sudden  eclosion  from  fine  dames  into  intrepid  bor- 
der heroines  and  inspired  martyrs.  In  Louisiana  climate 
and  circumstances  were  kinder,  and  so,  evolution  was 
substituted  for  cataclysm. 

Our  city  brought  her  entire  character  from  France, 
her  qualities,  as  in  French  good  qualities  are  politely 
called,  and  her  defects.  But  who  thinks  of  her  defects, 
without  extenuations  ?  Not  the  Canadian  and  French 
pioneers  who  installed  her  upon  the  banks  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, imagining  thereby  to  install  her  upon  the  com- 
mercial throne  of  America  ;  not  the  descendants  of 
these  pioneers,  and  most  assuredly  not  those  whom  she 
has  since  housed  and  loved. 

Critical  sister  cities  note,  that  for  a  city  of  the  United 
States,  New  Orleans  is  not  enterprising  enough,  that 
she  has  not  competition  enough  in  her,  that  she  is 
un-American,  in  fact,  too  Creole.  This  is  a  criticism 
that  can  be  classed  in  two  ways  ;  either  among  her 
qualities  or  her  defects.  It  is  palpably  certain  that  she 
is  careless  in  regard  to  opportunities  for  financial  profit, 
and  that  she  is  an  indifferent  contestant  with  other 
cities  for  trade  development  and  population  extension. 
Schemes  do  not  come  to  her  in  search  of  millionaire 
patrons;  millionaires  are  not  fond  of  coming  to  her  in 
search  of  schemes;  noble  suitors,  even,  do  not  come  to 
her  for  heiresses.  It  is  extremely  doubtful  if  she  will 
ever  be  rich,  as  riches  are  counted  in  the  New  World, 
this  transplanted  Parisian  city.  So  many  efforts  have 
been  expended  to  make  her  rich!  In  vain!  She  does 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

not  respond  to  the  process.  It  seems  to  bore  her. 
She  is  too  impatient,  indiscreet,  too  frank  with  her 
tongue,  too  free  with  her  hand,  and  —  this  is  confiden- 
tial talk  in  New  Orleans  —  the  American  millionaire  is 
an  impossible  type  to  her.  She  certainly  has  been  ad- 
monished enough  by  political  economists  :  "  Any  one," 
say  they,  "  who  can  forego  a  certain  amount  of  pleasure 
can  become  rich."  She  retorts  (retorts  are  quicker  with 
her  than  reasons) :  "  And  any  one  who  can  forego  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  riches  can  have  pleasure." 

And  what,  if  she  be  a  money-spender,  rather  than  a 
money-saver;  and  if  in  addition  she  be  arbitrary  in  her 
dislikes,  tyrannical  in  her  loves,  high-tempered,  luxuri- 
ous, pleasure  loving,  if  she  be  an  enigma  to  prudes  and 
a  paradox  to  puritans,  if,  in  short,  she  be  possessed  of 
all  the  defects  of  the  over-blooded  rather  than  those  of 
the  under-blooded,  is  she  not,  all  in  all,  charming  ?  Is 
she  not  (that  rarest  of  all  qualities  in  American  cities) 
individual,  interesting  ?  Her  tempers,  her  furies,  if  you 
will,  past,  is  she  not  gentle,  sympathetic,  tender  ?  Can 
any  city  or  women  be  more  delicately  frank,  sincere, 
unegotistic  ?  Is  there  a  grain  of  malice  in  her  composi- 
tion ?  Have  even  her  worst  detractors  ever  suspected 
her  of  that  mongrel  vice, — meanness? 

And  finally,  in  misfortune  and  sorrow  —  and  it  does 
seem  at  times  that  she  has  known  both  beyond  her 
deserts  —  has  she  ever  known  them  beyond  her  strength? 
Nay,  does  she  not  belong  to  that  full-hearted  race  of 
women  who,  when  cast  by  fate  upon  misfortune,  re- 
bound from  the  contact,  fresher,  stronger,  more  vigor- 
ous than  ever?  And  in  putting  sorrows  and  misfort- 
unes behind  her,  to  fulfil  her  role  in  civic  functions, 
does  she  not  appear  what  she  is  essentiall}7,  a  city  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXI 


blood  and  distinction,  "  grande  dame,"  and,  when  occa- 
sions demand,  grande  dame  en  grande  tenue  ?  And, 
outranked  hopelessly  as  she  is  now  in  wealth  and  pop- 
ulation, is  there  a  city  in  the  Union  that  can  take  pre- 
cedence of  her  as  graciously,  and  as  gracefully,  as  she 
can  yield  it? 

The  world  foreign  to  France  was  amazed  at  the 
heroism  displayed  by  the  delicate  ladies  of  the  Court  of 
Louis  XVI.,  stepping  from  the  gateway  of  the  Concier- 
gerie  to  the  tumbrels  of  the  guillotine ;  passing  from 
their  erring  mortality  of  earth  to  the  bar  of  heaven's 
immortal  justice,  with  a  firmness  and  composure  that 
unnerved  their  executioners.  All  the  world  was  aston- 
ished, except  themselves ;  for  they  at  least  knew  the 
qualities  of  their  defects. 


CHAPTER   I. 

"  Voici  mon  fleuve  aux  vagues  solennelles : 

En  demi-lune  il  se  courbe  en  passant, 
Et  la  cite,  comme  un  aiglon  naissant, 

A  son  flanc  gauche  etend  ses  jeunes  ailes." 

—  Alfred  Mercier. 

"TX  the  continuity  of  a  city  which  has  a  historical 
-•-  foundation  and  a  historical  past,  there  is  much 
secular  consolation  for  the  transitoriness  of  human  life. 
To  the  true  city-born,  city-bred  heart,  nothing  less 
than  the  city  itself  is  home,  and  nothing  less  than  the 
city  is  family ;  and,  more  than  in  our  hearts,  do  we 
look  in  the  city  for  the  memorials  that  keep  our  dead 
in  vital  reach  of  us.  Here  they  worked,  walked,  talked, 
frequented  ;  here  they  mused,  even  as  we  are  musing  ; 
here  they  met  their  adventures  of  love,  their  triumphs, 
their  failures ;  here  they  sowed  and  reaped  their 
religion  and  politics,  held  meetings,  dispensed  elo- 
quence, protested,  commented,  even  as  we  are  doing 
now,  committing  follies  and  heroisms.  Through  these 
streets  they  Avere  carried  in  their  nurses'  arms  ;  through 
these  streets  they  were  carried  in  their  coffins.  These 
stars,  passing  over  these  heavens,  passed  so  for  them ; 
and  these  seasons,  by  local  promises  and  disappoint- 
ments so  personally  our  own,  sped  by  the  same  for 

l 


2  NEW    ORLEANS. 

them,  marking  off  their  springs,  summers,  autumns, 
and  winters,  of  content  and  discontent.  As  we  walk 
along  the  banquettes,  our  steps  feel  their  footprints, 
and  even  the  houses  about  us,  new  and  fresh,  and 
ignoble  heirs  as  we  hold  them  to  be  of  respected 
ruins,  with  kindly  loyalty  to  site,  still  throw  down 
ancestral  tokens  to  us.  And  not  only  the  city  inani- 
mate, if  as  such  it  can  be  called  inanimate,  but  the 
city  animate,  — :  the  people,  —  how  it  eternalizes  us  to 
ourselves,  to  one  another,  old,  young,  white,  black, 
free,  slave  ;  here  we  stand  linked  together,  by  name 
and  circumstance,  by  affiliation  and  interdependence, 
by  love  and  hate,  justice  and  injustice,  virtue  and 
crime,  indisputable  sequences  in  the  grand  logic  of 
humanity,  binding  one  another,  generation  by  genera- 
tion, to  generation  and  generation,  until  the  youngest 
baby  hand  of  to-day  can  clasp  its  way  back  to  its  first 
city  parent,  to  the  city  founder,  Bienville  himself, — 
and  from  him,  linking  on  to  what  a  civic  pedigree  ! 
Enumerating  them  haphazard:  La  Salle,  Louis  XIV., 
Marquette,  Joliet,  Colbert,  Pontchartrain,  Iberville,  the 
Regent,  Louis  XV.,  Carlos  III.,  the  great  Napoleon, 
the  great  Jefferson. 

It  is  not  entirely  a  disadvantage  to  be  born  a  mem- 
ber of  a  small  isolated  metropolis,  instead  of  a  great 
central  one.  If  the  seed  of  its  population  be  good 
and  strong,  if  the  geographical  situation  be  a  fortunate 
one,  if  the  detachment  from,  and  connection  with,  the 
civilized  world  be  nicely  adjusted,  the  former  being 
definite  and  the  latter  difficult  (and  surely  these  condi- 
tions were  met  with  a  century  and  a  half  ago  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi),  there  follows  for  the  smaller 
metropolis  a  freedom  of  development,  with  a  resultant 


NEW    ORLEANS.  3 

clearness  of  character,  which  is  as  great  a  gain  for  a 
city  as  for  an  individual.  In  such  a  smaller  mother- 
city,  individual  acts  assume  an  importance,  individual 
lives  an  intrinsic  value,  which  it  would  be  absurd  to 
attribute  to  inhabitants  of  a  great  centre ;  our  gods 
seem  closer  to  us,  our  fates  more  personal ;  we  come 
nearer  than  they  to  having  our  great  ones,  our  mar- 
tyrs and  heroes,  and  we  can  be  bolder  in  our  convic- 
tion of  having  them,  and  we  can  have  the  naivete", 
despite  ridicule,  to  express  this  conviction.  It  were 
a  poor  New  Orleanian,  indeed,  who  could  not  ennoble 
a  hundred  street  corners,  at  least  (if  the  city  were  so 
minded  and  so  dowered  with  wealth)  with  statues  of 
good  and  great  men  and  women  of  our  own  produc- 
tion. And  we  can  show  saints  and  martyrs,  even 
now  in  our  midst,  than  whom,  we  think,  palms  never 
crowned  worthier ! 

It  is  called  the  Crescent  City,  the  Mississippi  River, 
in  its  incessant  travail  of  building  and  destroying, 
having  here  shaped  its  banks  into  the  concave  and 
convex  edges  of  the  moon  in  its  first  quarter.  The 
great  river  is  the  city's  stream  of  destiny,  feared  and 
loved,  dreaded  and  worshipped  ;  it  seems  at  times,  when 
its  gigantic  yellow  floods  rise  high  above  the  level  of 
the  land,  threatening  momentarily  to  rend  like  cobwebs 
the  stout  levees  that  withstand  it, — it  seems  then  like 
some  huge,  pitiless,  tawny  lion  of  the  desert,  playing 
with  a  puny  victim  in  its  paw.  And  then,  again, 
flowing  in  opulent  strength,  laden  with  beneficence 
and  wealth,  through  its  crescent  harbor,  —  it  seems  a 
dear  giant  Hermes,  tenderly  resting  the  metropolis, 
like  an  infant,  on  his  shoulder. 

Could  we  penetrate   to    the    secret  archives  of  the 


4  NEW  OELEANS. 

Mississippi,  the  private  chronicles  of  its  making,  the 
atmospheric,  tidal,  and  volcanic  episodes  in  its  majestic 
evolution,  what  a  drama  of  nature  would  be  unfolded  I 
One  that,  in  inflexibility  of  purpose,  and  sublime  per- 
sistence of  effort,  might  feebly  be  described  as  human. 
And  the  Promethean  contest  still  goes  on.  Still,  the 
great  inland  water-power  fights  its  way  to  the  South. 
Ever  further  and  further  it  throws  its  turbid  stream, 
through  the  clear  green  depths  of  the  Mexican  Gulf ; 
ever  firmer  and  surer  advances  its  yellow  banks  against 
the  rushing,  raging,  curling  breakers ;  still  ever,  year 
by  year,  fixing  its  great,  three-tongued  mouth,  with 
deadly  grip,  on  its  unfathomable  rival. 

The  political  history  of  the  Mississippi  begins,  char- 
acteristically, one  may  say,  with  the  appearance  of  this 
three-tongued  mouth,  on  the  Tabula  Terre  Nove  in  the 
1513  Ptolemy,  made  by  Waldseemiiller  before  1508. 
This  map,  traced  back  to  an  original  of  some  date 
before  1502,  throws  us,  searching  for  the  discoverer  of 
the  Mississippi,  into  the  glorious  company  of  the 
immediate  contemporaries  of  Christopher  Columbus 
himself.  The  mind,  as  well  as  the  heart,  warms  at  the 
inference  that  to  no  one  less  than  Americus  Vespu- 
cius,  is  due  the  presence  of  the  Mississippi  on  this 
old  map,  a  record,  perhaps,  of  the  voyage  of  Pinzon  and 
Solis,  which  he  accompanied  as  pilot  and  astronomer. 

To  Alvarez  de  Pineda,  1519,  is  ascribed  the  honour  of 
the  first  exploration  of  the  river,  and  its  first  name, 
Rio  del  Santo  Espiritu ;  an  honour  that  would  have 
remained  uncontested,  had  the  over-sharp  explorer  not 
praised  his  exploit  out  of  all  topographical  recognition, 
so  peopling  its  banks  with  Indian  tribes,  'and  decking 
them  with  villages  glittering,  according  to  the  taste  of 


NEW  ORLEANS.  5 

the  time,  with  silver,  gold,  and  precious  stones,  that  an 
impartial  reader  is  placed  in  the  dilemma  of  either 
refusing  credence  to  the  veracity  of  the  explorer,  or  to 
the  veracity  of  the  three-tongued  mouth  on  the  map. 
Pineda's  fable  of  the  golden  ornaments  of  the  Indians 
of  the  Espiritu  Santo  was  the  ignus  fatuus  that  lured 
Pamphilo  de  Narvaez,  in  1528,  to  his  expedition,  ship- 
wreck, and  death  in  the  Delta. 

One  comes  into  clear  daylight  in  the  history  of  the 
Mississippi  only  with  Hernandez  de  Soto.  The  river 
burst,  in  1542,  in  all  its  majesty  and  might,  upon  the 


gaze  of  that  fanatical  seeker  of  El  Dorado,  as  he 
marched  across  the  continent.  But  it  could  not  impede 
or  detain  him.  When  the  blur  disappeared  at  last  from 
before  his  bewildered  vision,  and  his  gold-struck  eyes 
recovered  sight,  and  beheld  his  haggard  desperation, 
he  turned  his  steps  back  to  the  great  river,  and,  hard 
pressed  now  by  starvation,  fever,  and  goading  disap- 
pointment, he  but  gained  its  banks  in  time  to  die  under 
the  grateful  shade  of  spring  foliage,  and  find  inviolate 
sepulture  for  his  corpse  in  its  turbid  depths. 

A    century   and    a   half  passed    and  the   Mississippi 


6  NEW  ORLEANS. 

relapsed  to  its  old  Indian  name  and  to  its  aboriginal 
mystery  and  seclusion.  The  huge  drift  of  its  annual 
flood  accumulated  at  its  mouth  in  fantastic  heaps, 
which  in  time,  under  action  of  river,  wind,  and  sun, 
took  the  semblance  of  a  weird  stone  formation  and  an 
impregnable  barrier.  "  Los  Palissados "  the  Spanish 
sea-farers  and  buccaneers  called  them,  avoiding  them, 
not  only  with  real,  but  with  superstitious  terror. 

To  the  seventeenth-century  colonists  of  Canada,  the 
stream  was,  one  might  say,  so  unknown  that  when  the 
Indians  told  of  a  great  river  flowing  through  the  con- 
tinent, cutting  it  in  two,  they  jumped  to  the  conclusion 
(their  wishes  being  to  them  logical  inference)  that  the 
stream  flowed  from  east  to  west,  and  so  would  furnish 
to  the  French  their  El  Dorado,  —  a  western  passage 
to  China. 

This  false  inference  was  the  inspiration  of  that  great 
epic  of  colonial  literature,  the  story  of  Robert  Cave- 
lier  de  la  Salle,  the  Don  Quixote  of  pioneer  chronicles. 
His  imagination,  great  as  the  Mississippi  itself,  turned 
its  irresistible  currents  into  this  one  channel,  —  the  dis- 
covery and  exploration  of  the  new  route  to  China.  His 
enthusiasm,  unfortunately,  infected  all  with  whom  he 
talked,  from  the  trader  and  half-breed  at  his  side,  up 
through  church  and  state,  priests,  intendants,  govern- 
ors, courtiers,  ministers,  princes,  to  the  very  fountain 
head  of  power  and  authority,  to  the  king  himself,  mak- 
ing them  all,  in  more  or  less  degree,  his  Sancho  Panzas. 
And  at  the  end  of  thirteen  years  of  such  vicissitudes  as 
no  human  imagination  would  have  the  fertility  to  con- 
ceive, the  river  was  found  to  flow  not  west,  nor  into 
any  communicable  reach  of  China,  but  south,  into  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico! 


NEW  ORLEANS.  7 

La  Salle's  ardour  reacted,  however,  from  any  disap- 
pointment that  this  might  imply,  and  soared  into  proba- 
bilities superior  in  thrilling  interest  even  to  expectations 
from  China.  In  the  year  1682,  standing  on  the  desolate 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  he,  in  the  name  of  the  king  of 
France,  took  possession  of  it,  and  of  its  country,  north, 
south,  east,  and  west,  to  the  extreme  limit  of  verbal 
comprehension,  christening  the  river  St.  Louis,  and  the 
country  Louisiana.  Through  the  sonorous  sentences  of 
his  "prise  de  possession"  shines  the  glittering  future, 
that  dazzled  his  eyes.  In  easy  reach  of  the  treasure 
house  of  the  king  of  Spain,  the  mines  of  Mexico,  France 
had  but  to  extend  her  hand  at  any  time  to  grasp  them, 
if  she  did  riot  discover  vaster,  richer  ones,  in  this  new, 
undeveloped  country.  Already  owning  Canada  and  the 
great  Western  Lakes,  this  great  central  waterway  and 
valley  of  North  America,  with  its  opening  on  the  Gulf 
(the  West  Indian  highway),  gave  France  such  grip 
upon  the  country  that,  by  mere  expansion  of  forts  and 
settlements,  England  and  Spain  could  be  elbowed  into 
the  oceans  on  either  side.  Such  a  vision  might  have 
fired  any  imagination. 

The  place  La  Salle  proposed  to  fortify  on  the  river 
Colbert,  as  he  again  re-christened  the  Mississippi,  was 
sixty  leagues  above  its  mouth,  where,  he  said,  the  soil 
was  very  fertile,  the  climate  mild,  and  whence  the 
French  could  control  the  American  continent.  Thus 
and  then  was  the  idea  of  New  Orleans  conceived.  It 
was  not  granted  the  author,  however,  to  give  the 
idea  actuality,  the  gods  having  planned  the  story 
otherwise. 

His  determination  and  attempt,  from  1684  to  1687,  to 
found  the  city  and  bring  his  colony  and  stores  to  it, 


8  NEW  ORLEANS. 

through  its  Gulf  entrance,  and  not  by  way  of  Canada, 
furnish  the  misfortunes,  calamities,  and  culminating 
catastrophe  of  the  incredibly  heartrending  last  chapter 
of  his  life.  The  indomitable  courage  and  inflexible  per- 
severance he  displayed  could  be  overmatched,  it  would 
seem,  only  by  the  like  qualities  in  his  evil  genius. 
One  rises  somewhat  to  his  own  sublimity  of  desperation, 
as,  even  after  two  centuries,  one  reads  the  relentless 
record  of  the  ill  steering  that  threw  his  expedition  upon 
the  coast  of  Texas,  of  his  struggle  for  hope  and  life,  of 
his  attempt  to  seek  on  foot  help  from  Canada ;  of  his 
betrayal  and  assassination.  It  is  a  wild  and  mournful 
story,  as  Parkman  calls  it. 

La  Salle's  idea,  however,  arose  only  more  radiantly 
triumphant  from  the  blood-soaked  earth  of  his  Texas 
grave,  and  the  true  spirit  of  his  enthusiasm  lived  in  the 
enthusiasm  he  had  engendered.  When  the  proper  mo- 
ment came,  his  scheme  was  vital  enough  in  govern- 
mental centres  to  kindle  into  energy  the  will  to  give  it 
another  chance  at  success.  The  proper  moment  arrived 
in  1697,  when  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  granted  a  breath- 
ing space  to  war-driven  Europe.  Louis  XIV.  was 
quick  to  seize  it.  Pontchartrain,  the  Minister  of  Marine, 
was  as  prompt  in  furnishing  the  means.  Maurepas,  his 
son  and  private  secretary,  was  ready  with  the  man, 
Pierre  Lemoyne  dTberville. 

Canadian  born  and  bred,  and,  in  the  commentary  of 
his  governor,  "  As  military  as  his  sword  and  as  used  to 
water  as  his  canoe,"  with  all  the  practical  qualities  of 
character  since  claimed  as  American,  in  primal  fresh- 
ness and  vigour,  Iberville  seems  the  man  as  clearly  pre- 
destined to  succeed  in  the  New  World,  as  La  Salle,  the 
mediaeval  genius,  seems  predestined  to  fail  in  it.  Iber- 


•••wmms^^mm^ 


NEW  OBLEANS.  11 

ville's  enterprise  as  we  call  it  now  and  determination 
to  recognize  no  eventuality  but  success,  appeared  in 
truth  to  discourage  (as  enterprise  and  determination 
have  a  way  of  doing)  the  very  efforts  of  wind  arid  tide 
against  him.  The  expedition  he  led  from  Brest,  in  1698, 
steered  straight  across  the  Gulf  on  its  course,  without 
accident  or  misadventure  ;  his  ships  anchored  safe  in 
the  harbor  of  Ship  Island ;  and,  from  the  very  jaws  of 
the  tempest,  his  barges  glided  into  security  through 
one  of  the  dreaded  palisadoed  mouths  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. And,  as  if  still  further  to  accentuate  his  festal 
fortune,  it  was  on  the  Mardi  Gras  of  1699,  while  France 
was  laughing,  dancing,  carousing,  and  masquerading, 
that  he  erected  her  cross  and  arms  upon  the  soil  of  Lou- 
isiana, and  reaffirmed  her  possession  of  a  colony  greater 
in  extent  than  her  whole  European  world. 

After  exploring  the  river  for  five  hundred  miles,  the 
nature  and  possibilities  of  the  country  gradually  un- 
folded to  Iberville,  and  La  Salle's  far-reaching  scheme, 
for  French  domination  in  America,  appeared  in  its 
true  significance  to  him  ;  and  he  became  the  ardent 
champion  of  it.  Discarding  his  predecessors'  wild  and 
erring  calculations  upon  the  existence  of  silver  mines  in 
Louisiana,  he  cared  only  for  the  military  and  political 
importance  of  the  new  possession  ;  and  referred  to  the 
Mexican  mines  only  to  suggest  the  feasibility  of  captur- 
ing them  at  any  time,  with  a  handful  of  buccaneers 
and  coureurs  de  bois,  or  at  least  of  way-laying  the  gold 
and  silver  laden  caravels  on  their  way  to  Spain.  La 
Salle's  project  of  a  chain  of  fortified  posts  along  the 
line  of  the  Mississippi  and  of  the  great  tributaries 
from  Canada  to  the  Gulf,  he  supplemented  with  a  prac- 
tical plan  for  consolidating  the  Indians  into  connecting 


12  NEW   ORLEANS. 

links  between  the  posts,  and  so,  holding  not  only  the 
country  but  the  people  also,  to  France. 

On  the  voyage  up  the  river,  the  Indian  guide  con- 
ducted Iberville  to  the  portage  which  crossed  the  nar- 
row strip  of  land  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  arm 
of  the  Gulf,  afterwards  called  Lake  Pontchartrain. 
A  few  miles  below,  in  a  sharp  bend  of  the  bank,  was 
a  small,  rude,  savage  stronghold,  that  commanded  the 
river;  near  by  were  some  deserted  huts.  The  indica- 
tions fixed  the  locality  in  the  mind  of  Iberville,  and 
of  his  young  brother  and  companion,  Bienville,  as 
the  proper  one  for  the  future  city. 

But  the  Canadian  first  made  sure  of  his  country. 
He  fixed  a  fort  and  garrison  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi ;  established  a  strongly  fortified  settlement  on 
the  Gulf  at  Biloxi,  held  on  to  his  harbor  of  Ship  Island, 
and  planted  outposts  at  Mobile,  to  guard  against  enter- 
prise from  the  Spaniards  at  Pensacola. 

The  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  seemed  ever  of 
yore  to  woo  the  ambitious  with  irresistible  tempta- 
tions. The  spirits  of  the  old  Spanish  adventurers 
were  its  sirens,  and  the  song  they  sang  of  lawless  free- 
dom, conquest,  and  power,  turned  many  an  honest  cap- 
tain into  a  buccaneer,  and  maddened  buccaneers,  with 
dreams  of  empire  and  dominion,  into  pirates.  It  was 
the  song  of  all  others  to  fire  the  martial  heart  of  Ibor- 
ville.  Gradually,  he  deflected  from  the  La  Salle  idea, 
or  bent  it  into  an  Iberville  idea,  —  a  French  (or  at 
times  one  suspects,  an  Iberville)  domination  of  all  the 
islands  of  the  Gulf  and  the  mastery  of  its  waters. 
For  such  a  scheme,  a  stronghold  on  the  Gulf  was  of 
far  more  value  than  a  city  on  the  Mississippi;  con- 
sequently, the  establishment  was  removed  from  Biloxi 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


13 


to  the  more  accessible  Mobile,  which  became  the  capital 
and  centre  of  the  colony. 

Magnetized  by  past  successes  against  the  English, 
into  perfect  confidence  of  future  ones,  Iberville  ob- 
tained from  his  government  a  strong  armament,  and 
sailed  with  it  into  his  new  field  of  action.  As  a  pre- 
liminary experiment,  he  captured  the  little  islands  of 
Nevis  and  St.  Christopher;  then,  finding  the  English 
at  Barbadoes  and  the  larger  islands  prepared  for  him, 
he  decided,  instead  of  attacking  them  at  that  moment, 
to  surprise  and  raid  the  coast  of  the  Carolinas,  as  he 
once,  with  brilliant  barbarity,  had  done  to  the  coast  of 
Newfoundland.  But,  stopping  at  Havana  for  a  prom- 
ised reinforcement  of  Spaniards,  he  was  seized  with  the 
yellow  fever,  raging  there  in  epidemic,  and  died  in  the 
full  vigour  of  his  prime,  in  the  year  1706. 


\ 


CHAPTER  II. 

T3IENVILLE  is  the  man  whom  Louisianians  place  at 
~*—^  the  head  of  their  history.  In  his  day,  they  called 
him  the  Father  of  Louisiana,  and  New  Orleans  is  as 
incontestably  his  city  as  if  La  Salle  and  Iberville  had 
not  so  much  as  thought  of  it.  He  was  Jean  Baptiste 
Le  Moyne.  A  midshipman  of  eighteen,  he  accom- 
panied Iberville  on  his  voyage  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  fair,  slight,  almost  undersized,  his  fig- 
ure formed  no  less  striking  a  contrast  to  his  physically 
superb  brother,  than  his  gentle,  quiet,  meditative  face 
did  to  the  rough,  bold,  hardy  countenances  of  the 
Canadians  and  buccaneers  in  the  same  expedition.  He 
was  left  in  the  colony  by  Iberville,  with  the  rank  of 
second  in  command.  A  fever  carrying  off  his  chief, 
Sauvole,  during  Iberville's  absence,  he  assumed  full 
command.  Iberville,  always  strong  in  the  favour  of  the 
Ministry  of  the  Marine,  secured  the  confirmation  of 

14 


NEW  ORLEANS.  15 

this  position,  and  thus  the  young  officer  at  twenty  be- 
came the  highest  executive  and  sole  representative  of 
royal  authority  in  the  colony. 

The  promotion  was  quite  in  the  line  of  his  imagi- 
nation, if  not  of  his  intention,  and  the  intention  of 
Iberville,  in  settling  him  in  Louisiana.  The  American 
emigrants  of  to-day  are  no  more  aspiring  in  their  deter- 
minations, nor  determined  in  their  aspirations,  than  were 
the  Canadian  emigrants  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
But  the  Canadian  emigrant  aimed  at  noble  rank,  feu- 
dal power  and  privileges.  Thus,  the  father  of  Iberville 
and  Bienville,  Charles  Le  Moyne,  himself  the  son  of  an 
innkeeper  of  Dieppe,  a  thrifty  trader  and  interpreter, 
while  amassing  land  and  fortune  by  the  life  and  death 

o  t/ 

ventures  of  a  pioneer  in  Canada,  aimed  his  ambition  for 
his  sons,  and  fixed  their  careers  by  giving  them  the 
noble  surnames  proper  to  seigneurial  rights  and  estates, 
-de  Longueuil,  de  Salute  Helene,  de  Maricourt,  de 
Serigny,  de  Bienville,  de  Chateauguay,  —  and  events 
proved  him  not  a  bad  marksman.  AVhilst  the  younger 
brothers  were  still  children,  the  eldest  had  served  in 
France;  had,  with  his  Indian  attendant,  figured  at  Court 
as  related  by  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  in  one  of  her  let- 
ters to  her  sister,  the  Countess  Palatine  Louise  ;  had 
married  the  daughter  of  a  nobleman,  a  lady  in  wait- 
ing to  her  Royal  Highness  of  Orleans ;  and  had  built 
that  great  fortress-chateau  of  Longueuil,  the  marvel  of 
stateliness  and  elegance  of  the  day  for  all  Canada  ;  and 
had  obtained  his  patent  of  nobility  and  title  of  Baron. 
The  little  Bienville,  an  orphan  from  the  age  of  ten,  was 
brought  up  by  the  Baron  de  Longueuil,  in  all  the  state- 
liness and  elegance  of  the  chateau ;  and  it  is  to  this 
environment  and  rearing  that  we  are  indebted  for 


16  NEW  ORLEANS. 

that  "tenue  cle  grand  Seigneur,''  which  threw  such 
quaint  picturesqueness,  not  only  over  his  personality, 
but  over  the  city  which  he  founded,  as  is  noticeable  by 
many  a  token  to-day. 

Bienville,  nevertheless,  was  a  born  coureur  de  bois,  as 
Iberville  was  a  bom  buccaneer.  With  a  trusty  Cana- 
dian companion  or  two,  he  paddled  his  pirogue  through 
the  bayous,  and  threaded  the  forests  of  Louisiana,  until 
he  became  as  expert  a  guide  as  any  Indian  in  the 
territory.  And,  with  his  native  Canadian  instincts,  to 
assist  natural  capacity  for  acquiring  the  dialects,  habits, 
manners,  and  etiquette  of  the  savages,  he  learned  to 
know  them,  and  thereby  to  govern  them,  as  no  Indian 
in  his  territory  could  ever  assume  to  do.  For  twenty- 
seven  years  his  authority  over  them  was  absolute.  The 
stiff  parchment  and  rigid  sentences  of  government 
etiquette  have  rarely  conveyed  reports  so  redolent  of 
forest  verdure,  freshness,  and  natural  adventure  as  his. 
It  comes  to  us  still,  in  fragrant  whiffs,  even  from  the 
printed  page,  and  one  likes  to  dream  that  in  that  an- 
cient swarm  of  government  officials  in  the  marine  office 
of  that  da}*  in  Paris,  there  may  have  existed  some 
infinitesimal  clerk,  with  —  despite  his  damnable  fate — 
an  adventurous  heart.  With  what  eagerness  must  he 
not  have  turned,  as  six  months  by  six  months  rolled 
by,  to  the  belated  courier  from  Louisiana,  and  the 
budget  from  Bienville.  What  a  life-giving  draught, — 
a  Fenimore  Cooper  draught,  —  to  the  parched  plodding 
mind  ! 

It  was  not  all,  however,  nor  even  the  best  of  it,  in 
Bienville's  reports,  nor  in  the  reports  sent  to  the  gov- 
ernment by  the  facile,  if  unorthographic  pens  of  his 
companions,  young  French  and  Canadian  officers  whom 


NEW  ORLEANS.  17 

we  shall  meet  here  and  there  later  on  ;  for  there  is 
Pennicaut  !  The  literary  pilgrim  comes  to  many  an 
unexpected  oasis  in  the  arid  deserts  of  colonial  re- 
search, whose  shaded  wells  turn  out  to  be  veritable 
places  of  dalliance  and  pleasure.  Such  a  complimentary 
comparison,  if  ever  manuscript  suggested  it,  must  be 
thought  of  in  connection  with  Pennicaut's  "Journal." 
At  least,  so  it  appears  to  the  Louisiana  pilgrim. 

Pennicaut  was  born  in  La  Rochelle.  He  was  to  be  a 
ship-carpenter,  but  at  the  age  of  fifteen  had  the  passion 
for  travelling  so  strong  in  him,  that  three  years  later, 
unable  to  resist  it  any  longer,  he  engaged,  oh  blessed 
time  for  passion-driven  travellers  !  for  a  voyage  whose 
destination  he  did  not  know,  but  which  ended  in  the 
discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 

About  the  same  age  as  Bienville,  and  with  patent 
congeniality  of  temperament,  he  was  his  constant  at- 
tendant in  his  excursions  and  expeditions,  and  his  ever- 
faithful  admirer.  Pennicaut  could  never  have  read  a 
novel :  he  certainly  would  have  mentioned  it  if  he  had, 
but  that  he  knew  what  a  novel  should  be,  and  that  he 
had  in  him  the  capability  of  writing  many  a  one,  no 
reader  of  his  "  Journal  "  can  doubt  for  an  instant. 

He  wrote  his  adventures,  from  memory,  years  after 
in  Paris,  where  he  had  gone  by  the  advice  of  Bienville, 
in  search  of  relief  against  threatened  blindness.  He 
had  a  hope  that  his  literary  effort  would  gain  him  the 
pension  of  the  king ;  but,  in  spite  of  our  own  earnest 
wishes  to  find  the  evidence,  there  is  none  that  Penni- 
caut's hope  did  not  die  of  the  usual  disappointment 
that  awaits  the  hope  of  the  literary. 

Besides  Bienville's  excursions  and  adventures,  thrown 
into  far  better  chronological  proportion  and  effect  than 


18  NEW  ORLEANS. 

reality  granted,  and  related  with  an  eye  to  detail,  of 
which  Bienville  himself  did  not  know  the  fictional 
advantage,  —  we  have  Pennicaut's  own  adventures. 
It  may  be  frankly  confessed  at  the  outset,  that  Penni- 
caut's experiences  in  the  merry  greenwood  are  of 
far  more  entertaining  character  than  those  of  his 
commandant,  and  that  (as  he  relates  them)  his  services 
in  the  colony  lead  him  into  situations  infinitely  more 
thrilling  ;  and  we  are  thankful  that  it  was  so.  One 
cannot  help  being  thankful  in  reading  Pennicaut, 
that  it  was  so,  that  such  a  rare  talent  for  relating 
adventures  was  so  providentially  accompanied  by  the 
still  rarer  talent  of  acquiring  them. 

The  third  hero  of  the  "  Journal "  is  that  Louisiana  hero 
of  romance,  par  excellence,  that  doughty  chevalier, 
invincible  Indian  fighter,  and  irresistible  lover  and 
founder  of  Natchitoches,  the  Sieur  Juchereau  de  St. 
Denis.  St.  Denis  came  from  Canada  to  join  his  rela- 
tives Iberville  and  Bienville,  in  their  new  and  promis- 
ing field  of  fortune.  After  some  independent  brilliant 
improvisations  among  the  Alabama  and  Louisiana 
Indians,  he  hit  upon  a  scheme,  —  which  offered,  in  his 
mind,  the  most  entrancing  reaches  of  peril  and  fortune. 
This  Avas  an  overland  trade,  between  Mobile  and 
Mexico,  a  contraband  trade,  for  the  protective  tariff 
of  Spain  prevented  any  other.  It  was  during  the 
Crozat  regime  in  Louisiana,  when  the  French  capitalist 
was  making  the  experiment,  and  proving  the  illusion, 
of  a  French  monopoly  of  trade  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ; 
and  St.  Denis  soon  obtained  a  commission,  to  be  his 
own  avant-coureur,  in  the  enterprise. 

Me  was  accompanied  by  his  valet,  barber,  and  sur- 
geon, Jallot  ;  and  Jallot,  as  Pennicaut's  friend,  by  pre- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  21 

dilection  in  the  colony,  evidently  obtained  for  the  latter 
the  permission  to  join  an  excursion,  than  which  nothing 
could  have  appeared  more  tempting  to  a  literary  and 
adventurous  expert. 

Arrived  at  Presidio  del  Norte,  St.  Denis  found  that 
the  Spaniards  had  his  reception  all  prepared  for  him. 
His  attendants  were  detained  in  the  garrison,  and  he 
was  sent  on  to  Mexico  under  military  escort,  to  explain 
himself  to  the  governor. 

But  it  is  unjust  to  St.  Denis  to  allow  the  telling  of 
his  story  to  any  one  but  Pennicaut.  For  a  real  story, 
the  facts  could  not  possibly  have  had  better  authen- 
ticity. That  which  St.  Denis,  in  those  expansive  mo- 
ments of  the  toilette  which  even  the  most  reserved 
cannot  resist,  confided  to  Jallot,  Jallot  confided  to  Pen- 
nicaut over  their  social  glass.  It  is  safe  to  presume 
that  any  lacunae  that  arose  either  from  lapse  of  confi- 
dences between  the  master  and  valet,  or  lapses  of 
betraj^al  from  Jallot  to  Pennicaut,  or  lapses  of  mem- 
ory on  the  part  of  Pennicaut,  writing  afterwards  in 
France,  —  the  latter  was  fully  able  to  bridge  with  his 
own  sure  sense  of  the  exigencies  of  fictional  archi- 
tecture ;  and  so,  we  will  allow  him  to  proceed,  with  a 
few  necessary  curtailments :  — 

"  Escorted  by  an  officer  and  twenty-four  Spanish  horsemen 
M.  de  St.  Denis  voyaged  over  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
to  the  capital  of  Mexico,  where  he  had  an  interview  with  the 
Viceroy,  to  whom  he  showed  his  passports.  The  Viceroy,  who 
was  the  Duke  of  Linares,  after  having  looked  at  the  passports, 
replied  that  M.  de  St.  Denis  had  made  a  poor  voyage,  and  without 
listening  further  to  him,  put  him  in  prison.  M.  de  St.  Denis,  very 
much  astonished  at  such  a  procedure,  was  not  a  little  put  out  by 
it.  He  remained  over  three  months  in  prison.  Happily  for  him, 
there  were  some  Frenchmen  in  Mexico,  in  the  service  of  Spain, 


22  NEW  ORLEANS. 

who  knew  Iberville  very  well.  These  spoke  in  favour  of  St.  Denis, 
to  the  Viceroy,  who  interviewed  M.  de  St.  Denis  a  second  time, 
and  offered  him  a  company  of  cavalry  and  service  with  the  king 
of  Spain.  But  M.  de  St.  Denis,  without  being  touched  by  the 
offer,  replied  that  he  had  taken  an  oath  to  the  king  of  France, 
whose  service  he  would  leave  only  with  his  life. 

"It  had  been  reported  to  the  Viceroy  that,  while  M.  de  St. 
Denis  had  remained  at  Presidio  del  Xorte,  he  had  courted  the 
daughter  of  the  Captain,  Don  Pedro  de  Villesco.  The  Viceroy, 
to  influence  him,  told  him  that  he  was  a  half-naturalized  Spaniard 
already,  since,  on  his  return  to  the  Presidio  he  was  to  marry  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Don  Pedro  de  Villesco.  '  I  will  not  deny  to 
you,  my  lord,'  replied  M.  de  St.  Denis,  '  that  I  love  Dofia  Maria, 
since  it  has  been  told  to  your  excellency,  but  I  have  never  flattered 
myself  that  I  should  merit  marrying  her.' 

"The  Viceroy  assured  him  that  he  could  count  upon  it,  that  if 
he  accepted  the  offer  made  him,  of  a  company  of  cavalry  and 
service  with  the  king  of  Spain,  Don  Pedro  would  be  delighted  to 
give  him  his  daughter  in  marriage.  '  I  give  you  my  word  upon 
it,'  he  added.  '  At  the  same  time,  I  shall  allow  you  two  months 
to  think  over  my  proposition,  during  which  time  you  will  remain 
here  at  full  liberty  to  go  where  you  please  in  the  city.  You  will 
meet  here  many  French  officers  in  the  service  of  the  king  of 
Spain,  and  who  are  very  well  pleased  with  it.' 

"M.  de  St.  Denis  thanked  the  Duke  of  Linares  for  his  kindness, 
particularly  for  the  liberty  he  gave  him ;  after  which,  on  leaving 
the  apartment,  M.  de  St.  Denis  was  accosted  by  a  Spanish  officer, 
who,  speaking  pretty  bad  French,  told  him  that  he  had  orders 
to  lodge  him  in  his  house,  and  to  accompany  him  on  his 
promenade  in  the  city.  M.  de  St.  Denis,  who  knew  by  experience 
that  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  men  of  this  nation,  one  must 
load  them  with  compliments  and  deference,  replied  in  the  Spanish 
officer's  own  language,  that  he  would  be  very  much  obliged  for 
the  officer's  company,  which  would  give  him  the  greatest 
pleasure. 

"The  officer  conducted  his  guest  to  his  house,  which  was  a 
cottage  furnished  after  the  Spanish  manner,  that  is,  with  curtains 
of  linen,  the  walls  all  bare,  and  chairs  made  entirely  of  wood. 
He  showed  him  a  chamber  beside  his  own,  only  a  little  larger 


NEW  ORLEANS.  23 

and  a  little  cleaner,  opening  on  the  garden,  where,  he  said,  M.  de 
St.  Denis  would  sleep. 

"  They  were  about  going  out  when  the  cavalcador  major  of 
the  Viceroy  entered,  and  presented  to  M.  de  St.  Denis  a  sack 
containing  three  hundred  piasters,  which  the  Viceroy  sent  for  his 
use  while  he  remained  in  Mexico. 

"  M.  de  St.  Denis,  accompanying  the  grand  equerry  to  the  foot 
of  the  stairs,  begged  him  to  convey  to  the  Viceroy  how  much 
overwhelmed  he  was  with  all  his  liberalities.  After  which,  re- 
entering  his  apartment,  he  asked  the  Spanish  officer  to  accompany 
him  to  a  place  where  he  could  find  something  to  eat  for  the 
money,  and  where  he  wished  the  honour  of  the  officer's  company 
at  dinner. 

"  The  officer  willingly  guided  him  to  a  hostelry  frequented  by 
French  and  Spanish  officers,  where  they  had  good  cheer  without 
being  fleeced  of  their  money,  the  price  of  the  meal  being  fixed  at 
one  dollar  a  head.  M.  de  St.  Denis  continued  to  eat  there  during 
the  two  months  he  remained  in  Mexico.  He  there  became 
acquainted  with  many  French  officers  in  the  Spanish  service, 
who  knew  of  him,  without  his  knowing  them,  because  most  of 
them  had  been  friends  of  Iberville's.  He  likewise  made  the 
acquaintance  of  one  of  the  most  considerable  Spaniards  in  the 
city,  who  tried  again  and  again  to  induce  him  to  enter  the  service 
of  the  king  of  Spain.  He  was  even  invited  several  times  to  the 
table  of  the  Viceroy,  who  gave  magnificent  dinners  every  day. 
Nothing  that  he  had  ever  seen  appeared  to  M.  de  St.  Denis  so 
rich  as  the  Viceroy's  service  of  silver.  Even  the  furniture  of 
his  apartments,  his  armoirs,  tables,  down  to  his  andirons,  all 
were  of  massive  silver,  of  extraordinary  size  and  weight,  but  rudely 
fashioned. 

"  M.  de  St.  Denis  was  most  careful,  all  the  time  he  was  in 
Mexico,  to  guard  his  words,  to  say  nothing  that  could  be  used  to 
his  prejudice,  although  every  day  he  partook  of  the  good  cheer 
of  the  French  and  Spanish  officers,  who  neglected  no  effort  to 
attract  him  to  themselves.  They  were  no  doubt  pushed  to  this 
by  the  Viceroy,  but  they  did  not  succeed,  and  this  was  what 
probably  induced  the  Viceroy  to  give  M.  de  St.  Denis  his  conge. 
One  day  when  he  had  him  to  dinner,  he  took  him  aside  into  a 
magnificent  cabinet,  into  which  M.  de  St.  Denis  had  never 


24  NEW  ORLEANS. 

entered  before,  and  told  him,  since  he  could  not  be  prevailed  upon 
to  enter  the  service  of  the  king  of  Spain,  he  was  at  liberty  to  return 
to  Louisiana,  and  that  he  could  depart  with  the  officer  with  whom 
he  lodged,  presenting  him,  at  the  same  time,  a  purse  of  a  thousand 
dollars,  "which,"  said  the  duke  laughing,  "he  gave  him  for  the 
expenses  of  the  wedding,"  hoping  that  the  Dona  Maria  would 
influence  him  more  than  he  and  his  officers  had,  towards  accepting 
his  offers. 

"  M.  de  St.  Denis  immediately  commenced  his  preparations  for 
departure.  He  supped  with  all  his  French  and  Spanish  friends, 
and  bade  them  good-bye,  embracing  them  all  heartily. 

"  While  he  was  dressing  next  morning,  the  grand  equerry  of 
the  Viceroy  entered  his  chamber,  and  informed  him  that  his 
Excellency  had  sent  him  a  horse  from  his  stables,  to  make  the 
journey  with. 

"  Thanking  the  officer  in  Spanish,  expressing  his  gratitude  for 
all  the  kindness  of  the  Viceroy,  whose  magnificence  and  generosity 
he  would  make  known  to  the  governor  of  Louisiana  and  to  all  the 
Frenchmen  there,  M.  de  St.  Denis  descended  the  stairs  with  the 
equerry  and  received  the  horse,  which  was  held  by  a  page  of 
the  Viceroy.  He  exclaimed  much  over  the  beauty  and  value  of 
the  present,  which  gave  the  equerry  the  opportunity  to  descant 
upon  the  riches  of  his  master,  whom  he  elevated  to  the  rank  of  the 
greatest  kings  of  the  world ;  detailing  the  number  of  his  servants, 
and  of  his  horses,  saying  that  in  his  stables  there  were  still  two 
thousand  handsomer  than  the  one  he  had  just  given  away,  besides 
a  prodigious  quantity  of  furniture  and  services  of  silver. 

"M.  de  St.  Denis  dared  not  interrupt  him,  although  the  dis- 
course had  lasted  over  a  half  hour,  and  he  was  beginning  to  tire  of 
it ;  when  fortunately  the  officer,  who  was  to  act  as  escort,  called 
out  of  the  window  to  him,  that  he  must  come  to  breakfast,  as  they 
were  to  start  within  the  hour.  The  present  of  the  Viceroy  was  a 
bay  horse,  and  one  of  the  handsomest  M.  de  St.  Denis  had  ever 
mounted. 

"Travelling  at  their  ease,  it  took  the  gentlemen  three  months  to 
reach  Coahuila.  Here  they  found  Jallot  awaiting  his  master. 
Jallot  had  lived  all  this  time  from  his  trade  of  chirurgeon,  and 
had  even  gained  a  great  reputation  among  the  Spaniards  for  his 
cure  of  many  diseases  to  which  they  were  subject.  M.  de  St. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  25 

Denis  and  his  escort  lodged  at  the  best  inn  of  the  place,  where, 
however,  they  would  not  have  fared  so  well  had  not  Jallot  himself 
prepared  their  food.  At  the  end  of  eight  days,  the  governor  of 
Coahuila  gave  M.  de  St.  Denis  an  officer  and  six  cavaliers  to  conduct 
him  to  Presidio  del  Norte.  He  also  permitted  him  to  buy  a  horse 
for  his  valet,  which,  although  it  was  very  good,  cost  only  ten 
piasters. 

"  Eight  days  after  that  they  arrived  at  Presidio  del  Norte,  where 
St.  Denis  lodged  with  Senor  Don  Pedro  de  Villesca.  He  had  been 
there  only  a  week  when  circumstances  occurred  to  greatly  advance 
his  marriage  with  Dona  Maria.  Four  villages  of  Indians,  who 
were  under  Don  Pedro's  jurisdiction,  took  the  determination  to 
abandon  their  habitations  and  establish  themselves  outside  of 
Spanish  territory.  They  loaded  their  beasts  with  the  best  of  their 
movables,  and  commenced  their  march.  Don  Pedro  was  very  much 
troubled  by  this,  as  he  was  partly  to  blame  for  the  defection,  hav- 
ing given  too  much  license  to  his  officers  who  were  constantly 
vexing  and  pillaging  the  Indians,  knowing  that  they  dared  not 
defend  themselves.  Don  Pedro  did  not  know  what  to  do  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  movement ;  besides,  no  one  dared  go  to  the  Indians,  for 
the  four  villages  formed  a  force  of  a  thousand  men,  armed  with 
bows  and  arrows.  M.  de  St.  Denis,  seeing  the  embarrassment 
of  Don  Pedro,  offered  to  go  to  the  Indians  himself,  alone,  and  per- 
suade them  to  return.  Don  Pedro,  embracing  him,  replied  that  he 
dared  not  thus  expose  him,  for  two  of  these  villages  contained  the 
most  dangerous  Indians  to  be  found  anywhere,  and  they  would  not 
fail  to  kill  him. 

"  But  M.  de  St.  Denis  did  not  trouble  himself  about  that.  He 
mounted  his  horse,  and  followed  by  Jallot,  rode  forth  after  the 
Indians.  Attaching  his  handkerchief  to  the  end  of  a  cane,  he 
made  signs  to  them  from  a  distance,  and  when  he  came  up  to 
them,  he  spoke  to  them  in  Spanish,  telling  them  to  return,  that  all 
they  wanted  would  be  granted  them,  promising  them  on  the  part 
of  Don  Pedro,  that  they  should  not  be  harassed  any  more,  showing 
them  the  dangers  they  would  have  to  face  from  hostile  Indians 
outside  the  Spanish  government,  adding  that  the  Spanish  soldiers 
would  be  forbidden,  under  penalty  of  death,  to  go  to  their  villages ; 
and  that  they  need  only  follow  him  to  hear  this  law  laid  down  to 
the  garrison. 


26  NEW  ORLEANS. 

"The  four  chiefs  did  not  ask  any  better  than  that  they  should 
remain  undisturbed  in  their  lands,  so  they  and  their  people  fol- 
lowed M.  de  St.  Denis,  who,  much  to  the  astonishment  of  the  gar- 
rison, led  them  to  the  Presidio,  —  the  whole  four  thousand  men, 
women,  and  children.  Alighting  from  his  horse,  M.  de  St.  Denis 
spoke  a  few  moments  aside  with  Don  Pedro,  who  was  charmed  to 
take  upon  himself  any  obligation,  for  the  governor  of  the  province 
would  have  attributed  the  desertion  of  the  Indians  to  his  negli- 
gence, and  would  have  so  reported  it  to  the  Viceroy,  who  would 
not  have  failed  to  hold  him  responsible.  Therefore,  assembling 
all  his  cavaliers  in  the  presence  of  the  Indians,  he  published  a  law, 
forbidding  them,  under  penalty  of  death,  to  go  hereafter  to  the 
Indian  villages,  or  vex  them  in  any  manner.  He  then  exhorted 
the  Indians  to  return  to  their  villages,  which  they  did,  and  have 
never  left  them  since. 

"As  has  been  said,  this  advanced  greatly  the  marriage  of  M.  de 
St.  Denis  with  Dona  Maria. 

"  The  wedding  took  place  two  months  afterwards,  in  the  village 
church.  When  the  marriage  articles  were  signed  by  both  parties, 
Don  Pedro  went  to  Coahuila  to  buy  wedding  garments.  M.  de  St. 
Denis  sent  Jallot  with  him  to  make  some  purchases  also.  They 
returned  at  the  end  of  a  month,  and  six  or  seven  days  afterwards 
the  wedding  was  celebrated  with  pomp.  M.  de  St.  Denis  gave  to 
each  of  the  Spanish  cavaliers  three  dollars  and  a  yellow  cockade  to 
wear  on  his  hat.  lie  presented  to  his  wife  a  very  handsome  dia- 
mond which  he  had  brought  from  France  with  him.  The  wed- 
ding lasted  three  days,  during  which  the  Spanish  soldiers  had 
great  feasting  and  jollity,  and  they  did  not  spare  their  powder  for 
salutes. 

"After  the  wedding  M.  de  St.  Denis  remained  eight  months 
with  his  father-in-law.  Then,  accompanied  by  his  brother-in-law 
and  three  Spanish  cavaliers,  he  set  out  for  Louisiana,  to  make  his 
report  to  the  governor,  promising  to  return  for  his  wife  as  soon  as 
possible.  The  governor  of  Louisiana,  giving  up  all  idea  of  an 
amicable  trade  with  the  Spaniards,  built  a  fort  at  Xatchitoches,  to 
protect  his  frontier  against  them,  and  sent  M.  de  St.  Denis,  with  a 
garrison,  to  lake  possession  of  it.  There,  the  Spanish  brother-in- 
law  and  cavaliers  bade  M.  de  St.  Denis  adieu,  and  journeyed  to 
Presidio  del  Xorte. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  2J 

"  After  their  departure,  M.  de  St.  Denis  fell  into  a  profound 
sadness  that  he  could  not  go  with  them  to  see  his  father-in-law  and 
his  wife,  Dona  Maria,  but  the  Spaniards  also  had  established  a 
fort  on  their  frontier,  and  he  feared  to  be  taken  a  prisoner,  and 
expose  his  life  in  Mexico  a  second  time,  for  the  Viceroy  had 
declaimed  to  him  that  he  would  never  be  permitted  to  enter  Mexico 
again  without  an  order  from  the  king  of  Spain. 

"  One  day  he  was  absorbed  in  his  reflections,  in  the  little  forest 
at  the  point  of  the  island  of  Natchitoches,  on  the  bank  of  Red 
River,  where  he  was  in  the  habit  of  promenading  alone.  Jallot, 
who  was  in  the  woods  amusing  himself  picking  strawberries,  see- 
ing his  master,  watched  him  a  long  time  from  behind  a  bush ;  and, 
knowing  his  grief,  to  amuse  him  brought  him  the  strawberries  he 
had  gathered  in  a  little  basket.  M.  de  St.  Denis  asking  where  he 
had  found  them,  Jallot  told  him,  adding  that  there  were  better 
ones  in  Mexico. 

'"I  should  think  so,'  said  M.  de  St.  Denis,  'as  the  country  is 
warmer,  the  fruit  should  be  much  better.  And  I  can  tell  you, 
Jallot,  that  I  have  the  greatest  desire  to  cross  these  frontiers  and 
go  there,  not  for  the  fruit,  but  to  see  my  wife,  and  my  child,  which 
is  her  fruit  and  mine.  Although  it  is  three  months  since  Don  Juan 
left,  I  have  received  no  news  from  her  or  from  my  father-in-law, 
although  I  wrote  to  them  by  Don  Juan.  And  I  am  in  such  grief 
that  I  am  resolved  to  go  and  see  Dofia  Maria  even  if  I  lose  my  life 
in  the  attempt,  rather  than  remain  here,  consuming  myself  in  sad- 
ness, as  I  am  doing.' 

"  '  Why  vex  and  worry  yourself  so  long?'  said  Jallot;  'the  route 
is  neither  so  long  nor  so  difficult  as  you  imagine.  I  know  all  the 
roads  across  these  forests  and  can  conduct  you  to  Don  Pedro's  with- 
out ever  being  seen  by  any  one.' 

" '  You  cannot  think  it ! '  said  M.  de  St.  Denis ;  '  can  there  be  any 
chance  of  my  making  a  journey  of  twelve  hundred  miles  without 
being  discovered?'  'I  know,'  says  Jallot,  'that  I  have  made  the 
journey  four  times  without  any  mischance,  and,  if  you  wish,  we 
can,  on  pretence  of  hunting,  go  up  the  river  in  a  pirogue,  twelve 
miles  from  here,  and  landing,  continue  on  foot  until  we  reach  the 
village  of  Don  Pedro.' 

"  After  thinking  a  few  moments,  M.  de  St.  Denis  told  Jallot  that 
he  would  confide  himself  to  him,  and  it  was  for  him  to  take  all 


28  NEW  ORLEANS. 

precautions  to  succeed  in  the  trip,  which  might  cost  them  both 
their  lives  if  they  were  discovered ;  that  for  his  part  he  was  deter- 
mined to  risk  his  life,  and  to  leave  in  three  days,  for  that  was  the 
time  he  gave  him  to  make  his  preparations." 

The  journal  details  how  worthy  Jallot  was  of  this 
confidence  of  his  master's ;  how  admirable  were  the 
preparations  for  the  journey ;  how  successfully  it  was 
carried  out.  We  do  not  need  Jallot  to  tell  us  that 
M.  de  St.  Denis  could  never  have  accomplished  it  with- 
out him ;  we  are  convinced  of  it  the  moment  the  trav- 
ellers left  the  pirogue  and  planted  their  first  footstep  in 
the  forest.  They  travelled  by  night  and  slept  by  day, 
subsisting  on  the  game  they  —  or  rather  that  Jallot 
invariably  —  found  and  killed.  They  were  two  months 
on  the  journey,  the  last  day  of  which  found  M.  de  St. 
Denis  and  Jallot  reposing  in  the  woods  a  league  and  a 
half  away  from  Don  Pedro's  village. 

M.  de  St.  Denis  asked  Jallot  how  he  was  going  to 
manage  to  get  into  the  house  of  Don  Pedro  without 
being  seen.  "We  must  wait,"  answered  Jallot,  "until 
past  midnight,  because,  in  summer,  the  Spaniards  are 
up  and  about  very  late  at  night ;  and  then  you  have 
only  to  let  me  manage,  and  follow  me.  I  shall  get  you 
into  the  garden  behind  the  house  of  Don  Pedro.  The 
garden  is  enclosed  by  a  hedge  ;  in  one  corner  of  it 
there  is  a  place  through  which  I  used  to  enter  at  night 
to  visit  a  certain  pretty  little  Spanish  girl  whom  I 
knew  at  the  time  of  your  marriage."  M.  de  St.  Denis 
fell  to  laughing  and  said  :  "  No  wonder  our  voyage  has 
progressed  well,  since  our  augury  was  so  good.  It  is 
love  that  has  guided  us  both."  "Our  fate,"  replied 
Jallot,  "  is  very  different.  You  are  sure  of  finding 
in  Dona  Maria  a  wife  who  loves  you :  I  am  not 


NEW  ORLEANS.  29 

at  all  certain  of  finding  a  sweetheart,  who  may  be 
married." 

And  thus  they  entertained  one  another  until  night- 
fall. Then  Jallot  took  out  of  his  bag  a  piece  of  roast 
venison,  which  he  placed  upon  a  napkin  before  his  mas- 
ter ;  but  M.  de  St.  Denis  could  not  eat.  As  for  Jallot, 
who  had  a  good  appetite,  he  ate  a  great  deal  and  slept 
soundly  afterwards.  M.  de  St.  Denis  was  also  too 
anxious  to  sleep,  so  he  kept  arousing  Jallot  every 
minute,  telling  him  it  was  time  to  set  out.  Finally, 
seeing  by  the  stars  that  it  was  midnight,  Jallot  de- 
parted on  a  preliminary  reconnoissance.  He  returned 
at  the  end  of  two  hours,  and  bade  his  master,  who  was 
storming  with  impatience,  follow  him. 

Walking  rapidly,  in  a  road  between  an  avenue  of 
trees,  they  reached  the  ditch  surrounding  Don  Pedro's 
garden,  crossed  it,  found  the  place  in  the  hedge,  where 
Jallot,  by  throwing  down  a  fagot  of  dried  brambles, 
mounted  to  the  terrace  inside,  and  giving  his  hand  to 
his  master  assisted  him  to  mount  also. 

While  Jallot  replaced  the  brambles,  M.  de  St.  Denis 
strode  softly  into  the  garden.  In  the  faint  moonlight 
he  saw  the  figure  of  his  wife  promenading  alone.  He 
went  to  her  to  embrace  her,  but  she  gave  a  cry  of 
fright  and  fell  fainting.  Fortunately,  M.  de  St.  Denis 
had  on  him  a  bottle  of  the  water  of  "  The  Queen  of 
Hungary  "  ;  he  held  this  to  Dona  Maria's  nose  and  so 
brought  her  back  to  consciousness  and  to  recognition  of 
himself.  She  threw  herself  upon  his  breast.  After 
embracing  one  another,  over  and  over  again,  he  took 
her,  with  his  arm  around  her  waist,  to  the  little  parlour 
overlooking  the  garden  —  the  one  underneath  the 
chamber  she  slept  in  during  the  summer. 


30  NEW   ORLEANS. 

After  talking  a  little  with  her  husband,  Dona  Maria 
called  her  father  and  uncle,  who  came  and  embraced 
M.  de  St.  Denis.  Supper  was  served ;  but  M.  de 
St.  Denis  ate  very  little,  observing  which,  and  also 
how  tired  he  was,  the  gentlemen  soon  retired,  leav- 
ing him  to  his  repose  —  where,  as  Pennicaut  says,  we 
shall  also  leave  him. 

The  next  day  his  father-in-law  took  M.  de  St.  Denis 
aside  and  begged  a  favour  of  him.  M.  de  St.  Denis 
replied  that  there  was  nothing  he  could  refuse  him,  and 
that  he  was  ready  to  render  him  any  service,  even  at 
the  expense  of  his  life.  "  I  would  not  make  this 
prayer  of  you,"  said  Don  Pedro,  "  were  it  not  that 
your  life  is  in  danger,  as  well  as  mine,  if  you  do  not 
follow  the  advice  I  give  you."  And  then  he  told  his 
son-in-law  that  he  had  received  orders  from  the  Viceroy 
to  arrest  him,  should  he,  M.  de  St.  Denis,  ever  come  to 
see  Doiia  Maria,  and  that  an  officer  and  twenty-five 
men,  sent  by  the  governor  of  Coahuila,  had  been 
waiting  six  months  in  the  village  to  catch  him  ;  that  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  that  neither  he  nor  Jallot 
should  leave  the  house,  otherwise  he  would  be  seen  and 
taken  prisoner  to  the  Viceroy,  out  of  whose  hands  he 
would  not  escape  so  easily  a  second  time.  "  I  myself," 
said  Don  Pedro,  "shall  never  arrest  you,  even  should  it 
cost  me  my  life.  Therefore,  I  pray  you  again  not  to 
leave  my  house,  which  no  one  has  seen  you  enter,  and 
where  you  will  never  be  discovered,  particularly  in  the 
apartments  of  Dona  Maria,  which  110  one  ever  enters." 

St.  Denis  promised,  and  forbade  Jallot  also,  to  leave 
his  room. 

"'•  What  is  surprising,"  Jallot  related  to  Pennicaut 
afterwards,  "  M.  de  St.  Denis  passed  nearly  a  year  thus, 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


31 


only  leaving  the  apartments  of  his  wife  after  dark  of 
an  evening,  when  he  promenaded  with  her  under  the 
avenue  of  trees  in  the  garden.  He  did  not  become 
tired,  because  they  loved  one  another  more  tenderly 
than  ever.  ...  As  for  me,"  continued  the  valet,  "  I 
never  passed  a  more  tiresome  time  in  my  life,  particu- 
larly in  the  winter,  when  it  became  too  cold  to  walk  in 


the  garden.  Sometimes,  at  night,  when  the  door  of 
the  house  was  closed,  I  would  sit  by  the  fire  with  a 
great  thin,  ugly  servant  maid,  called  Luce,  who  was 
prouder  than  the  daughter  of  the  most  celebrated 
barber  in  Mexico.*' 

The  birth  of  a  second  child  to  Dona  Maria,  and   its 
baptism  in  her  room,  although  conducted  in  all  secrecy 


32  NEW  ORLEANS. 

(St.  Denis  remaining,  during  the  ceremony,  hidden  in 
an  inner  chamber),  brought  suspicion  upon  the  house 
of  Don  Pedro.  Under  fear  of  orders  from  the  gov- 
ernor of  Coahuila,  for  a  domiciliary  visit,  St.  Denis, 
parting  from  his  wife  "  with  many  tears  on  each  side," 
left  as  secretly  as  he  came.  He  and  Jallot  returned  on 
foot  to  Natchitoch.es.  The  journey  took  them  six  weeks, 
and  it  was  filled  with  all  the  adventures  possible  to  the 
time  and  circumstances,  or  to  Jallot's  imagination,  or 
Pennicaut's  love  of  romance,  —  Indian  and  Spanish 
attacks,  hand-to-hand  combats,  ending  finally  in  the 
safe  arrival  of  St.  Denis  and  his  valet  at  the  French 
frontiers,  mounted  on  chargers  that  they  had  captured 
from  the  Spaniards. 

"  These,"  says  Pennicaut,  "  are  the  details  of  the  love 
of  his  master,  given  me  by  Jallot." 


CHAPTER   III. 

TEN VILLE  had  never  wavered  in  his  conviction 
that  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  French  domination  of 
Louisiana  was  but  the  possession  and  control  of  the 
Mississippi.  This  control,  as  he  reiterated  in  every 
report,  could  only  be  assured  by  colonizing  its  banks 
and  by  establishing  upon  it  the  capital  city  of  the 
colony.  For  eighteen  years  the  founding  of  this  city 
grew  from  the  fair  ambition  of  the  youth  to  the  settled 
determination  of  the  middle-aged  man.  On  his  excur- 
sions from  Mobile  he  recurs  again  and  again  to  the  site, 
between  the  river  and  the  lake,  shown  to  him  and  Iber- 
ville  by  the  Indian  guide.  He  and  Pennicaut,  as  Peii- 
nicaut  relates,  traversed  it  often  on  foot,  and  he  settled 
some  Canadians  upon  it  to  make  trial  of  its  soil  and 
climate,  and,  as  far  as  in  him  lay,  he  made  it  the  official 
portage  of  the  colony,  through  which  communication 
was  made  between  the  lake  and  the  river  when  the  dif- 
ficult entrance  of  the  latter  by  mouth  was  to  be  avoided. 
It  was  twenty  years  before  the  opportunity  came  for 
which  he  was  waiting.  In  September,  1717,  Louisiana, 
by  royal  charter,  passed  into  the  great  colonial  assets  of 
that  company  of  the  west,  by  which  John  Law  proposed 
to  scheme  France  out  of  financial  bankruptcy  into  the 

33 


34  NEW   ORLEANS. 

millennium  of  unlimited  credit.  In  February,  1718, 
Law's  Pactolus  of  speculation  floated  its  first  shiploads 
of  men,  money,  and  provisions  to  Louisiana.  Out  of 
them  Bienville  grasped  the  beginnings  of  his  city. 
When  the  ships  returned  to  France,  they  carried  back 
with  them  the  official  announcement  that  it  had  been 
founded,  and  named  after  the  Regent,  Duke  of  Orleans. 
What  a  picture  flashes  upon  the  eye  with  the  name  ! 
There  is  absolutely  no  seeing  of  Bienville's  group  of  pal- 
metto-thatched huts  by  the  yellow  currents  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Instead,  there  is  the  brilliant  epoch  of  the 
regency,  —  that  "century  in  eight  years,"  as  it  has  been 
well  called  —  that  burst  upon  France  like  a  pyrotechnic 
display,  after  the  protracted,  sombre  old  age  of  Louis 
XIV ,  when  Paris,  intoxicated  by  the  rush  of  new  life 
in  her  veins,  staggered  through  her  orgies  of  pleasure, 
arts,  science,  literature,  finance,  politics,  —  after  her 
leader,  her  lover,  the  Regent  Duke ;  her  fair  flower  and 
the  symbol  of  all  that  the  eighteenth  century  contained 
of  worst  and  best,  the  incarnation  of  all  that  is  vicious, 
of  all  that  is  genial,  debased,  charming,  handsome,  witty, 
restless,  tolerant,  generous,  sceptical,  good-natured, 
shrewd.  Kindly  adjectives  are  so  much  quicker  in 
their  services  to  describe  him  than  harsh  ones,  anecdotes 
and  bon-mots  are  so  ready-winged  to  fly  to  his  succour 
against  condemnation,  that  one  feels  the  impotence 
against  him  that  actuated  his  own  mother  to  invent  an 
apologue  to  explain  him,  an  apologue,  par  parenthese 
that  might  have  been  invented  also  to  explain  his  Ameri- 
can city.  "  The  fairies  were  all  invited  to  my  bedside; 
and,  as  each  one  gave  my  son  a  talent,  he  had  them  all. 
Unhappily,  one  old  fairy  had  been  forgotten.  Arriv- 
ing after  the  others,  she  exclaimed  in  her  pique:  'He 


NEW   ORLEANS. 


35 


will  have  all  the  talents  except  that  of  being  able  to 
make  use  of  them.' ' 

And  what  a  role  in  that  Paris  of  the  Regent  was 
the  Mississippi  to  play,  with  her  Louisiana  and  her 
infant  city  of  New  Orleans  ?  In  truth,  like  Cinderella 
at  the  king's  ball,  she  dazzled  all  e}res  until  the  fatal 
limit  of  her  time  expired.  Historians  describe  how 
the  names  of  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  New  Orleans  filled 


the  cafes  where  the  new  Arabian  luxury  held  enchanted 
sway  over  men's  minds.  It  is  said  that  France  never 
talked  so  much  or  so  well  as  under  the  influence  of  the 
subtle  stimulant,  ki  which  sharpens  precision  and  subli- 
mates lucidity," -  —  "  le  cafe,  qui  supprime  la  vague  et 
lourde  poesie  des  fumees  de  Fiinagination,  qui,  du  reel 
hien  vu,  fait  jaillir  Fetincelle  et  Tec'lair  de  la  veriteV' 
And  it  mav  be  said  that  France  never  had  more  to  talk 


36  NEW  ORLEANS. 

about,  a  more  inspiring  subject  for  facile  tongues,  tnan 
Law,  his  great  scheme  and  his  evangel,  "  Riches  can  be 
a  creation  of  faith."  There  was,  of  course,  a  claque  to 
lead  applause  for  it ;  all  the  literature  that  could  hang 
to  it  appeared  suddenly  on  the  streets ;  wonderful 
books  of  travel  and  adventure  in  the,  New  World  in 
the  Islands,  as,  in  their  geographical  ignorance,  the 
people  called  America  ;  and  pictures  —  a  telling  print 
showing  a  savage  paying  a  Frenchman  a  piece  of  gold 
for  a  knife ;  —  it  all  took.  Love  of  pleasure  begets 
need  of  money.  Law  had  his  time  and  people  made  to 
his  hand.  A  wild  frenzy  of  speculation  spread  like  the 
rabies,  and — but  a  satirical  verse  of  the  time  rolls  it  off 
for  us  :  — 


"  Aujourd'hui  il  n'est  plus  question, 

Ni  de  la  Constitution, 
Ni  de  la  guerre  contre  1'Espagne ; 

Un  nouveau  Pais  de  Cocagne, 
Que  Ton  nomine  Mississippi, 

Roule  a  present  sur  le  Tapis. 

Sans  Charbon,  Fourneau  ni  Soufflet 
Un  homine  a  trouve  le  secret, 

De  la  pierre  philosophale, 
Dans  cette  terre  occidentale, 

Et  fait  voir,  jusqu'a  present, 
Que  nous  etions  des  ignorants. 

II  a  fait  de  petits  billets, 

Qui  sont  parfaitement  bien  faits, 
Avec  des  petites  dentelles  ; 

Ce  ne  sont  pas  des  bagatelles, 
Car  il  a  fait  et  bien  su  tirer 

La  quint-essence  du  papier. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  37 

n  a,  pour  les  achalalander, 

A  quelques  Seigneurs  assure, 
Que,  pour  leurs  dettes  satisfaire, 

Son  pro  jet  etait  leur  affaire 
Car  il  voyait  auparavant 

Qu'on  ne  le  suivait  qu'en  tremblant. 

Mais  depuis  que  les  grands  Seigneurs 

Se  melent  d'etre  agioteurs 
On  voit  avec  grande  surprise, 

Gens,  vendre  jusqu'a  leur  chemise 
Pour  avoir  des  soumissions. 

Les  femmes  vendent  jusqu'a  leurs  bijoux 
Pour  mettre  k  ce  nouveau  Perou 

******* 

Passer  dans  la  rue  Quincampoix 

Car  c'est  dans  ces  fameux  endroi  , 
Ou,  des  Indes  la  Compagnie 

fitablit  sa  friponnerie 
Chacun  y  vient  vous  demander 

Voulez  vous  bien  actionner  ?  " 


The  map  of  Louisiana  was  parcelled  out  ;  allotments 
made  to  this  noble  name  and  to  that,  to  one  great  financier 
and  to  another.  Estates  upon  the  Mississippi!  What  a 
vista  not  only  of  wealth  but  of  seigneurial  possibili- 
ties to  the  roturier.  The  Mississippi,  in  short,  was 
"boomed,"  as  it  would  be  called  to-day  ;  and  its  boom 
reverberated  until  no  imagination,  the  medium  of  the 
boom,  could  be  deaf  to  it.  Colonists  were  sent  out, 
land  settled.  The  public  credit  of  the  system  demanded 
that  the  movement  should  not  slacken  ;  that  Louisiana 
should  not  stand  still  in  the  market,  that  it  should  be 
pushed  until  the  faith  which  was  the  germ  of  the  scheme 
was  rooted.  The  rue  Quincampoix  did  not  flinch.  Ah! 


38  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  pitiless  mastery  of  the  thirst  for  gold  has  never 
been  more  cruelly  displayed  than  in  this  artificial  forc- 
ing of  maturity  and  maternity  upon  a  virgin  country, 
to  keep  up  the  value  of  stocks!  Emigration  to  Louisi- 
ana must  be  kept  up,  by  fair  means  or  by  foul.  Human 
beings  would — faute  de  mieux,  human  beings  at  least 
could  —  be  procured  in  Paris.  The  orders  were  given  ; 
so  much  money  per  head.  There  was  no  time  to  choose, 
select,  or  examine,  and  no  disposition.  It  was  a  dog- 
catcher's  work  ;  and  dog-catchers  performed  it.  Streets 
were  scoured  at  night  of  their  human  refuse  ;  the  con- 
tents of  hospitals,  refuges,  and  reformatories  were 
bought  out  wholesale,  servant  girls  were  waylaid,  chil- 
dren were  kidnapped.  Michelet,  in  one  of  his  matchless 
pages,  writes:  "A  picture  by  Watteau,  very  pretty, 
very  cruel,  gives  an  idea  of  it.  An  officer  of  the  gal- 
leys, with  atrocious  smirks  and  smiles,  is  standing 
before  a  }Toung  girl.  She  is  not  a  public  girl  ;  she  is  a 
child,  or  one  of  those  frail  creatures  who,  having  suf- 
fered too  much,  will  always  remain  in  growth  a  child. 
She  is  perfectly  incapable  of  standing  the  terrible  voy- 
age ;  one  feels  that  she  will  die  on  it.  She  shrinks 
with  fear,  but  without  a  cry,  without  a  protest,  says 
there  is  some  mistake,  begs.  The  soft  look  in  her  eyes 
pierces  our  hearts.  Her  mother,  or  pretended  mother 
(for  the  poor  little  one  must  be  an  orphan),  is  behind 
her,  weeping  bitterly.  Not  without  cause  ;  the  mere 
transportation  from  Paris  is  so  severe  that  it  drove 
many  to  despair.  A  body  of  girls  arose  in  revolt  from 
ill  treatment  at  La  Rochelle.  Armed  only  with  their 
nails  and  teeth,  they  attacked  their  guards.  They 
wanted  to  be  killed.  The  barbarians  fired  on  them, 
wounded  a  great  many,  and  killed  six." 


NEW  ORLEANS.  39 

Another  Watteau,  with  a  different  instrument,  has 
given  his  reality  of  it  in  the  tender  perpetuity  of 
romance.  Do  you  remember  the  opening  chapter  in 
"  Manon  Lescaut "  ? 


"  I  was  surprised  on  entering  this  town  [Passy]  to  find  all  the 
inhabitants  in  excitement.  They  were  rushing  out  of  their  houses 
to  run  in  crowds  to  the  door  of  a  mean  hostelry,  before  which 
stood  two  covered  carts.  ...  I  stopped  a  moment  to  inquire  the 
cause  of  the  tumult,  but  I  received  little  satisfaction  from  the 
inquisitive  populace,  who  paid  no  attention  to  my  questions.  At 
last  an  archer,  with  bandolier  and  musket,  coming  to  the  door,  I 
begged  him  to  acquaint  me  with  the  cause  of  the  commotion. 

"  '  Tt  is  nothing,  Sir,'  he  said,  '  only  a  dozen  filles  de  joie,  that  I, 
with  my  companions,  are  conducting  to  Havre,  where  we  will  ship 
them  to  America.  There  are  some  pretty  ones  among  them,  and 
that  is  apparently  what  is  exciting  the  curiosity  of  these  good 
peasants.'  I  would  have  passed  on  after  this  explanation,  had  I 
not  been  ari'ested  by  the  exclamations  of  an  old  woman  who  was 
coming  out  of  the  tavern,  with  clasped  hands,  crying  that  'it  was 
a  barbarous  tiling,  a  thing  to  strike  one  with  horror  and  compas- 
sion.' '  What  is  the  matter,'  I  asked.  '  Ah,  Sir,'  said  she, 
'  enter  and  see  if  the  spectacle  is  not  enough  to  pierce  one's  heart.' 
Curiosity  made  me  alight  from  my  horse.  .  .  .  I  pushed  myself, 
with  some  trouble,  through  the  crowd,  and  in  truth  what  I  saw 
was  affecting  enough.  Among  the  dozen  girls,  who  were  fastened 
together  in  sixes,  by  chains  around  the  middle  of  the  body,  there 
was  one  whose  air  and  face  were  so  little  in  conformity  with  her 
condition,  that  in  any  other  circumstances  I  would  have  taken 
her  for  a  person  of  the  first  rank.  Her  sadness,  and  the  soiled 
state  of  her  linen  and  clothing,  disfigured  her  so  little,  that  she 
inspired  me  with  respect  and  pity.  She  tried,  nevertheless,  to  turn 
herself  around  as  much  as  her  chains  would  permit,  to  hide  her 
face  from  the  eyes  of  the  spectators.  ...  I  asked,  from  the  chief 
of  the  guards,  some  light  on  the  fate  of  this  beautiful  girl.  '  We 
took  her  out  of  the  hospital,'  he  said  to  me,  '  by  order  of  the  lieu- 
tenant general  of  the  police.  It  is  not  likely  that  she  was  shut  up 
there  for  her  good  actions.  There  is  a  young  man  who  can  instruct 


40  NEW  ORLEANS. 

you  better  than  I  on  the  cause  of  her  disgrace.  He  has  followed  her 
from  Paris,  almost  without  stopping  his  tears  a  moment :  he  must 
be  her  brother  or  her  lover.'  I  turned  to  the  corner  of  the  room 
where  the  young  man  was  sitting.  He  seemed  buried  in  a  pro- 
found reverie.  I  have  never  seen  a  livelier  image  of  grief .  ...  'I 
trust  that  I  do  not  disturb  you,'  I  said,  seating  myself  beside  him. 
'  Will  you  kindly  satisfy  the  curiosity  I  have  to  know  who  is  that 
beautiful  person,  who  does  not  seem  made  for  the  sad  condition  in 
which  I  see  her?'  He  replied  politely,  that  he  could  not  tell  who 
she  was,  without  making  himself  known,  and  he  had  strong 
reasons  for  wishing  to  remain  unknown.  '  I  can  tell  you,  however, 
what  those  miserable  \vretches  do  not  ignore,'  continued  he,  point- 
ing to  the  archers,  'that  is,  that  I  love  her  with  so  violent  a  passion 
that  I  am  the  unhappiest  of  men.  I  have  employed  every  means 
at  Paris  to  obtain  her  liberty.  Solicitations,  intrigues,  force,  all  were 
in  vain  :  I  resolved  to  follow  her,  even  should  she  go  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  I  shall  embark  with  her.  I  shall  cross  over  to  America. 
But,  what  is  a  piece  of  the  last  inhumanity,  these  cowardly  rascals,' 
added  he,  speaking  of  the  archers,  '  do  not  wish  to  permit  me  to 
approach  her.  My  plan  was  to  attack  them  openly  several  leagues 
outside  of  Paris.  I  joined  to  myself  four  men  who  promised  me 
their  help  for  a  considerable  pay.  The  traitors  abandoned  me, 
and  departed  with  my  money.  The  impossibility  of  succeeding 
by  force  made  me  lay  down  my  arms.  I  proposed  to  the  archers 
to  permit  me  to  follow  them,  offering  to  recompense  them.  The 
desire  of  gain  made  them  consent.  They  wished  to  be  paid  every 
time  they  gave  me  the  liberty  to  speak  to  my  mistress.  My  purse 
became  exhausted  in  a  short  while,  and  now  that  I  am  without  a 
cent  they  have  the  barbarity  to  repulse  me  brutally  every  time  I 
make  a  step  towards  her.  Only  an  instant  ago,  having  dared 
approach  her  despite  their  menaces,  they  had  the  insolence  to 
raise  their  gun-stocks  against  me.  To  satisfy  their  avarice,  and 
to  be  able  to  continue  the  journey  on  foot,  I  am  obliged  to  sell 
here  the  wretched  horse  which  has  hitherto  mounted  me.'  "... 


Poor  Manon  !  Poor  Chevalier  !  Poor  playthings  of 
Youth  and  Love  !  Never  has  author  breathed  upon  his 
creatures  of  romance  the  breath  of  such  reality,  if  not 


NEW  ORLEANS.  41 

of  life.  Nay,  did  they  not  incorporate,  these  frail 
children  of  Prevost's  imagination,  Manon  and  the 
Chevalier !  They  left  France  phantasies  of  fiction, 
but  they  seem  to  have  landed  bodily  in  New  Orleans, 
where,  as  the  Chevalier  tells  Manon,  "  one  must  come 
to  taste  the  true  sweetness  of  love  ;  it  is  here  that  one 
loves  without  venality,  without  jealousy,  without  incon- 
stancy. Our  compatriots  come  here  to  seek  gold ;  they 
would  not  imagine  that  we  had  found  here  far  greater 
treasures."  They  seem,  as  has  been  said,  to  have 
landed  in  New  Orleans  in  bodily  form,  for  did  not 
tradition  long  show,  in  the  environs  of  the  city,  the 
grave  of  Manon  Lescaut?  Are  not  relics  of  her  still 
sold  in  the  bric-a-brac  shops  here  ?  Is  not  the  arrival 
in  the  colony  of  a  Chevalier  des  Grieux  registered  in 
1719  ?  Does  not  he  live  in  history  enrolled  among 
the  officers  of  the  royal  troops  ?  And,  alas  !  does  not 
his  name  head  the  record  of  a  family  tomb  in  one  of 
the  old  cemeteries  of  a  river  parish  ? 

And  so,  out  of  the  hell  of  lust,  passion,  and  avarice 
that  reigned  in  Paris  during  the  last  days  of  the  System 
there,  and  out  of  the  tempest  of  fury,  ruin,  and  disgrace 
that  followed  the  <Hbdcle,  ship  after  ship  loaded  and 
sailed  for  the  New  World  and  the  new  life  ;  and  we 
can  imagine  the  desperate  hearts,  looking  from  deck 
over  the  grey  waste  of  the  ocean,  'sending  out  new 
hopes  like  doves  ahead,  in  quest  of  some  green  sign 
of  the  great  regeneration.  But  of  returning  olive 
branches,  the  straining  eyes  were  greeted  but  by  few. 
On  the  contrary,  dumped,  like  ballast,  upon  the  arid, 
glittering  sands  of  Dauphin  Island  or  Biloxi,  ill  from 
the  voyage,  without  shelter,  without  food,  without  em- 
ployment, blinded,  tortured  by  the  rays  of  a  tropical  sun, 


42  NEW   ORLEANS. 

fevered  and  dying  of  the  epidemic  from  the  West  Indian 
Islands ;  with  piles  of  brute  African  slaves  rotting  on 
the  beach  before  them ;  —  the  emigrants  to  this  worse 
hell,  must  have  sighed  for  the  hell  they  had  left.  It 
is  easy  to  believe  the  statement  of  the  colonial  records, 
that  most  of  the  unfortunates  died  in  their  misery. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  and  through  it  all,  we  see 
Bienville  busily  preoccupied  with  his  city,  arguing 
with  the  directors  of  the  Company  of  the  West,  at  the 
Council  Board,  to  convince  them  of  the  superior  advan- 
tages of  New  Orleans  over  Biloxi,  as  capital  of  the 
colony;  fighting  the  rival  claims  of  Natchez  to  that 
position;  piloting  a  ship  himself  through  the  mouth 
of  the  river  to  prove  its  navigability ;  and,  in  short, 
turning  every  circumstance,  with  deft  agility,  to  the 
profit  of  his  project.  Taking  with  him  the  Sieur  Pau- 
ger,  assistant  engineer,  and  a  force  of  convicts  and  pi- 
queurs  to  the  site  occupied  by  the  straggling  cabins  of 
his  Canadian  settlers,  he  had  the  land  cleared  and  the 
streets  aligned  according  to  the  plan  of  the  engineer 
in  chief  to  the  colony,  the  Chevalier  Le  Blond  de  la 
Tour. 

One  can,  in  a  morning's  walk,  go  over  the  square,  the 
vieux  carre,  as  it  is  called,  laid  out  by  Le  Blond  de  la 
Tour.  The  streets,  fifty  French  feet  wide,  divide  the 
cleared  space  into  the  sixty  squares  now  comprised 
between  Esplanade  and  Canal,  Old  Levee  and  Rampart 
streets ;  and  their  present  names  were  given  them, 
Chartres  (below  the  cathedral),  Conde,  Royal  Bour- 
bon, Dauphine,  Burgundy,  and  crossing  them  Bienville, 
Coiiti,  St.  Louis,  Toulouse,  St.  Peter,  Orleans,  St. 
Anne  (the  two  saints  at  the  sides  of  the  Cathedral, 
Orleans  at  its  back),  Dumaine  and  St.  Philippe.  Ursu- 


NEW   ORLEANS.  43 

lines  received  its  name  later,  from  the  convent.  The 
barracks,  or  quarters  of  the  soldiers,  gave  its  name 
"  Quartier,"  to  the  last  street  below  the  Place.  The 
central  blocks,  fronting  the  river,  were  reserved  for 
the  parish  church  of  St.  Louis,  with  the  priest 
house  on  its  left  and  guard  house  and  prison  on  its 
right.  In  front,  was  the  Place  d'Armes.  The  govern- 
ment magazines  were  on  both  sides  of  Dumaine  street, 
between  Chartres  and  the  river.  The  rest  of  that 
block  opening  on  the  Place  d'Armes,  was  then,  as  now, 
used  as  a  market-place.  Facing  the  levee  between 
St.  Peter  and  Toulouse  streets,  was  situated  the 
"  Intendance,"  intendant's  house.  The  house  of  the 
Company  of  the  West  was  on  the  block  above,  and  on 
the  block  above  that  was  the  Hotel  du  Gouvernement,  or 
governor's  house.  Bienville,  however,  built  a  private 
hotel  on  his  square  of  ground,  which  included  the  site 
of  the  custom  house  of  to-day.  The  powder  magazine 
was  placed  on  what  would  be  now  the  neutral  ground 
in  front  of  the  custom  house.  A  view  of  the  city,  taken 
in  1718,  about  the  time  it  was  founded,  for  Le  Page 
du  Pratz,  the  historian,  shows  the  levee  shaded  with 
trees,  with  buildings  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  those 
opposite  the  city  being  on  the  plantation  of  the  king, 
upon  which  Du  Pratz  afterwards  served  as  physician. 
He  said  that  the  quarters  given  to  the  "  bourgeois  "(our 
first  citizens)  were  overflowed  three  months  of  the  year. 
He  calls  these  blocks,  therefore,  "  Islands ;  Isles," 
which  is  the  origin  of  the  Creolism  "  Islet "  for  street 
or  square. 

A  map  of  1728  shows  the  buildings  indicated  on  the 
margin  of  Pauger's  plan,  all  put  up,  and  the  squares 
from  "  Bienville "  street  to  the  barracks,  and  out  as 


44  NEW  ORLEANS. 

far  as  Dauphine  street,  are  pretty  well  filled  with 
houses. 

The  list  of  the  settlers'  names  made  by  Pauger  is 
still  printed  on  the  margin  of  his  map.  Their  houses 
soon  dotted  the  squares  about  the  central  parade  and 
market-place  and  on  the  river  front,  and  a  thin  line  of 
them  extended  back  to  the  high  road,  the  old  portage, 
and  to  the  bayou  that  connected  with  lake  Pontchar- 
train.  This  little  bayou,  Tchoupic  (Muddy),  was 
christened  St.  Jean  in  honour  of  Bienville's  patron  saint. 
Meandering  into  the  city  from  the  lake,  with  slow, 
somnolent  current,  it  is  still  the  favourite  water-way 
for  the  leisurely  traffic  of  sailing  craft.  In  the  time  of 
the  Company  of  the  West,  the  whole  stream  of  emigra- 
tion to  the  Mississippi  lands  flowed  through  it :  the 
gaping  eye  of  French  peasant  and  Parisian  cockney 
taking  in,  despite  the  lapse  of  a  century  and  a  half,  the 
general  features  of  the  same  panorama  that  to-day 
passes,  with  their  dreams,  before  the  half -closed  eyelids 
of  the  Dago  and  Malay  fishermen,  reclining  on  the  decks 
of  their  schooners;  —  low,  rush-covered  banks  fringing 
into  the  water;  moss-laden  oaks,  arid  the  buttressed 
trunks  of  slimy  cypresses.  But  the  rush-covered  banks 
of  to-day  extended  then  into  vast  swamp  prairies,  athrill 
with  life,  and  scintillating  with  the  light  and  colour  of 
the  low-lying  heavens.  The  moss-covered  oaks  were 
forests,  arching  their  shades  into  majestic  mystery  and 
solemnity;  the  buttressed  trunk  of  that  single  cypress, 
and  those  straggling  clumps  of  palmettoes,  were  then  a 
tropical  jungle,  choking  in  the  coils  of  its  own  inbred 
growth  of  vines. 

One  single  settlement  of  Indians,  the  Tchouchoumas, 
a  vestige  of  the  great  river  tribe,  the  Hournas,  who  had 


NEW  ORLEANS.  45 

fled  here  from  one  of  their  internecine  wars,  dwelt  then 
on  the  banks  of  the  bayou.  That  genial  first  historian 
of  Louisiana,  Le  Page  du  Pratz,  who  came  to  the  colony 
in  1718,  in  the  first  excited  rush  after  the  Louisiana  boom, 
selected  his  farm  on  the  Bayou  St.  John,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  these  Indians.  It  was  of  them  he  bought 
that  incomparable  slave  of  an  Indian  girl,  who,  from  the 
twilight  moment  when  she  rushed  out  with  an  axe  to 
relieve  the  critical  situation  of  her  master,  face  to  face 
with  an  intrusive  alligator,  awakes  the  interest  of  the 
reader,  even  as  she  did  that  of  her  master,  and  charms 
us  into  credulity,  even  as  she  did  him  through  all  the 
years  of  her  services,  with  her  marvellous  explanations 
and  stories.  In  truth,  she  might,  with  some  appropri- 
ateness, be  called  the  muse  of  Louisiana  history. 

Despite  the  great  mortality  at  Dauphin  Island  and 
Biloxi,  the  number  of  emigrants  and  slaves  maintained 
a  steady  movement  into  the  colony,  and  they  were  not 
all  the  nettings  of  Paris  streets.  For  his  concessions 
on  the  Arkansas,  Law  sent  out  a  shipload  of  frugal, 
hardy,  thrifty  Germans ;  incomparable  colonial  stock 
they  proved.  Entire  plantations  also  were  equipped 
from  the  best  peasant  class  of  France.  Concessions 
along  the  Gulf  shore  were  filled  in ;  and  plantations 
were  cleared  on  the  Mississippi  above  and  below  the 
city;  and  saw  mills  and  brick  kilns  and  other  industries 
were  established  at  points  advantageous  for  work  and 
transportation.  As  Bienville  had  designed,  and  as  he 
laboured,  New  Orleans  became  the  centre  of  all  colonial 
activity,  and  Biloxi  became  more  and  more  a  mere  offi- 
cial bureau.  Finally,  in  1722,  Bienville's  repeated  argu- 
ments and  representations  to  the  Company  of  the  West 
produced  an  effect,  and  orders  were  sent  to  transfer  the 


46  NEW  ORLEANS. 

seat  of  government  to  New  Orleans.  They  were  imme- 
diately carried  into  effect.  In  June,  De  la  Tour  and 
Pauger,  led  the  way,  by  sailing  a  loaded  vessel  through 
the  mouth  of  the  river.  As  soon  as  word  was  brought 
to  Biloxi  that  they  had  passed  the  bar,  other  vessels 
followed  with  building  materials,  ammunition,  and 
provisions. 

Under  De  la  Tour's  supervision,  the  city  took  form 
and  shape.  The  church  and  government  houses  were 
built,  levees  thrown  up,  ditches  made,  a  great  canal 
dug  in  the  rear  for  drainage,  a  cemetery  located,  the 
old  St.  Louis  of  to-day,  back  of  Rampart  street,  and 
a  quay  constructed,  protected  with  palisades.  Bien- 
ville  arrived  and  took  up  his  residence  there  in 
August.  But,  in  the  midst  of  the  building  and  trans- 
portation, the  September  storm  came  on  with  a 
hitherto  unexampled  violence.  For  five  days  the 
hurricane  raged  furiously  from  East  to  West.  The 
church  and  most  of  the  new  edifices  were  destroyed, 
and  three  ships  were  wrecked  in  the  river.  And  then, 
as  if  to  complete  the  disasters,  a  fever  broke  out  which 
devastated  the  population  as  the  storm  had  the 
buildings.  The  indomitable  Bienville  himself  fell  ill, 
and  for  a  time  his  life  was  despaired  of.  But  the 
momentum  once  acquired,  the  city  advanced  steadily, 
as  over  slight  obstacles.  The  prostrate  buildings  were 
re-erected,  and  incoming  population  filled  the  vacancies 
caused  by  deaths.  For  still  they  continued  to  arrive, 
those  ships  loaded  with  all  the  human  history  of 
France  of  that  day,  adventure,  tragedy,  comedy,  lettres 
de  cachet,  the  Bastile,  houses  of  correction,  the  prison, 
with  an  occasional  special  cargo  of  misfortune.  Vol- 
taire relates  that  among  the  German  emigrants  sent 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


47 


by  Law  to  his  concession  on  the  Arkansas,  there  was  a 
most  beautiful  woman,  of  whom  the  story  ran,  that 
she  was  the  wife  of  the  Czarowitz,  Alexis  Petrowitz. 
To  escape  from  his  brutal  treatment,  she  fled  from  her 
palace  and  joined  the  colonists  for  Louisiana.  Here 


she  was  seen  and  recognized  by  the  Chevalier 
d'Aubant,  who  had  known,  and,  it  is  said,  loved  her 
in  St.  Petersburg.  She  married  him,  and  after  a  long 
residence  in  the  colonies  accompanied  him  to  Paris 
and  afterwards  to  the  He  de  Bourbon.  She  returned, 


48  NEW  ORLEANS. 

a  widow,  to   Paris  in  1754,  and  died  there   in   great 
poverty. 

It  was  about  this  time,  1720,  when  the  Com- 
pany of  the  West  was  still  booming  its  scheme,  that 
occurred  the  incident  which  has  been  so  unaccount- 
ably neglected  by  the  artists  of  the  bouffe  drama. 
The  commander  of  the  French  fort  in  the  Illinois 
country  had  the  inspiring  idea  of  impressing  his 
Indian  friends  with  a  real  sight  of  French  power,  and 
France  by  a  sight  of  the  Indian  "  au  naturel."  He 
therefore  induced  twelve  warriors,  and  some  women, 
to  accompany  him  on  a  visit  to  their  great  father  across 
the  water.  Among  the  women  was  the  daughter 
of  the  chief  of  the  Illinois,  who  was  young,  very 
beautiful,  and  in  love  with  the  French  commander. 
A  sergeant,  Dubois,  joined  the  party,  and  all  arrived 
in  New  Orleans,  where  with  a  great  flutter  of  excite- 
ment, talk,  pow-wow,  smoking,  f eastings,  joking,  and 
laughing,  and  every  manifestation  of  curiosity  and  fear, 
and  every  possible  send-off  and  farewell,  they  took  ship 
for  France.  Arrived,  they  were  conducted  to  Ver- 
sailles, introduced  at  court  and  presented  to  the  king 
with  brilliant  success.  A  deer  hunt  was  gotten  up 
for  the  warriors  at  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  a  kind  of 
Wild- West  show,  that  entertained  the  Court  im- 
mensely. Upon  the  women,  and  particularly  upon  the 
daughter  of  the  chief,  were  lavished  the  caresses  of  the 
high-born  court  dames,  for  whom  they  in  return  per- 
formed Indian  dances  upon  the  floor  of  the  Italian 
opera.  In  a  flash,  the  Indian  belles  became  the  sensa- 
tion of  the  day.  The  chief's  daughter,  or  Princess,  as  she 
was  called,  was  converted  to  Christianity,  and  baptized 
with  great  pomp  and  ceremony  at  Notre-Dame  ;  and, 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


49 


to  perfect  her  patent  as  Christian  and  Parisian,  she 
was  forthwith  married  to  Sergeant  Dubois,  who,  to  be 
made  fit  for  so  illustrious  an  alliance,  was  raised  by 
the  king  to  the  rank  of  captain  and  commandant  of 
the  Illinois  district.  The  bride  received  handsome 
presents  from  the  ladies  of  the  Court,  and  from  the 
king  himself ;  and  for  the  occasion  the  entire  savage 
company  was  clothed  in  the  gala  costumes  of  the  day, 
the  squaws  in  fine  petticoats  and  trains,  the  warriors 
in  gold  embroidered  coats  and  cocked  hats.  Very  much 
elated  they  were,  the  savage  guests,  when  they  re- 


embarked  for  home.  They  had  another  grand  ovation 
in  New  Orleans,  at  the  expense  of  the  Company,  and 
supplied  with  boats,  rowers,  and  an  escort  of  soldiers, 
they  proceeded  in  state  up  the  river.  Dubois  took 
possession  of  his  new  post  and  dignity,  and  if  is  said, 
for  a  brief  season,  enjoyed  it.  His  wife,  however, 
took  to  visiting  her  tribe  more  and  more  frequently. 
At  last,  one  day,  she  helped  her  people  surprise  the 
fort.  The  whole  garrison,  including  Dubois,  was 
massacred.  She,  stripping  herself  of  her  fine  but 
cumbersome  French  dress  and  religion,  gaily  returned 


50  NEW  ORLEANS. 

to  her  savage  life  and  companions  — her  civilization 
frolic  over. 

Bienville  was  none  too  soon  in  the  incorporation  of 
his  city.  In  1724,  the  political  cabal  against  him  in 
the  colony  secured  his  recall.  Confident  in  his  record, 
upon  arrival  in  France  he  answered  the  charges  against 
him,  with  the  memoir  of  the  services  that  had  filled  his 
life,  since  the  time  when  a  mere  stripling  he  had  fol- 
lowed his  brother  Iberville  in  quest  of  the  country, 
for  the  government  of  which  he  was  now,  a  middle- 
aged  man,  called  to"  account.  He  was  nevertheless 
disgraced,  deprived  of  his  rank,  and  his  property 
confiscated. 

Perier  was  appointed  to  succeed  him. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


THE   URSFLINE    SISTERS. 

1PROM  the  beginning,  the  Mobile  days  of  the  colony, 
-*-  the  emigration  of  women  being  always  meagre, 
there  had  been  a  constant  appeal  to  the  mother  country 
for  that  requisite  of  colonial  settlement,  —  wives.  The 
Canadians  of  position,  who  were  married,  brought  their 
wives  with  them  to  Louisiana,  and  many  of  them  had 
grown  daughters  who  naturally  became  the  wives  of  the 
young  Canadians,  also  in  good  position.  The  French 
officers,  younger  sons  of  noble  families,  who  could  only 
marry  their  equals,  led  their  life  of  bachelorhood  in  gay 
and  frolicsome  unconcern,  the  absence  of  wives  being, 
it  is  feared,  by  them  considered  a  dispensation  rather 
than  a  deprivation.  But  for  the  rough,  the  crude  human 
material  of  the  colony,  the  hardy  pioneers  of  the  axe  and 
the  hatchet,  there  could  be  no  possibility  of  domesticity 
in  their  log  cabins,  unless  a  paternal  government  came 
to  their  aid.  "•  With  wives,"  wrote  Iberville,  "I  will 

51 


52  NEW  ORLEANS. 

anchor  the  roving  coureurs  de  bois  into  sturdy  colo 
nists."  "Send  me  wives  for  my  Canadians,"  wrote 
Bienville  ;  "  they  are  running  in  the  woods  afte~°  Indian 
girls."  "Let  us  sanction  with  religion  marriage  with 
Indian  girls, "  wrote  the  priests,  "  or  send  wives  of 
their  own  kind  to  the  young  men."  And  from  time  to 
time  the  paternal  government  would  respond,  and  ships 
would  be  freighted  in  France,  and  sail  as  in  an  allegory, 
to  the  port  of  Hymen.  Of  all  the  voyages  across  the 
ocean,  in  those  days,  none  so  stirs  the  imagination  or 
the  heart  of  the  women  to-day.  And  upon  no  colonial 
scene  has  the  musing  hour  of  women  been  so  prolific  of 
fancy  as  upon  the  arrival  of  a  girl-freighted  ship  in  the 
matrimonial  haven. 

Dumont,  who,  like  Du  Pratz,  threw  his  experiences 
in  the  colony  into  the  form  of  a  history,  describes  the 
arrival  of  such  a  vessel,  but  he  looked  at  it  with  the 
eyes  of  the  dashing  young  officer  that  he  was,  and  not 
through  the  illusions  that  would  have  made  it  sensa- 
tional to  a  woman.  What  heart  and  brain  shadowings 
must  have  appeared  on  the  faces  of  these  emigrants,  in 
a  double  sense  of  the  word ;  thoughts  and  plans,  fears 
and  hopes,  —  above  all,  hopes,  for  the  hopes  predominate 
always  over  the  fears  of  women  sailing  to  the  port  of 
Hymen,  —  even  of  the  most  timid,  the  most  ignorant, 
the  most  innocent  women.  And  even,  too,  of  the  others 
who  came,  for  tradition  says  and  we  know  there  was 
more  than  one  Manon  deported  for  the  certain  good 
of  one  country,  and  possible  good  of  the  other ;  .  .  . 
even  these  women,  whatever  shame  and  disgrace  they 
may  have  left  behind,  their  hearts  must  still  have  hoped, 
aspired.  Here  was  indeed  a  new  world  for  them,  a 
new  life,  a  new  future,  a  new  chance  for  immortality. 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


53 


There  would  be  no  past  here,  that  is,  no  tangible  past, 
and  so  a  forgettable  past.  "When  they  were  landed," 
Dumont  writes  :  "  they  were  all  lodged  in  the  same 
house,  with  a  sentinel  at  the  door.  They  were  per- 
mitted to  be  seen  during  the  day  in  order  that  a 
choice  might  be  made,  but  as  soon  as  night  fell,  all 
access  to  them  was  guarded  a  toutes  forces.  It  was 
not  long  before  they  were  married  and  provided  for. 


Indeed,  their  number  never  agreed  with  the  number  of 
aspirants  that  presented  themselves.  The  last  one  left 
on  this  occasion  became  the  subject  of  contest  between 
two  young  bachelors  who  wanted  to  settle  it  by  a  fight, 
although  the  Hebe  was  anything  but  beautiful,  looking 
much  more  like  a  guardsman  than  a  girl.  The  affair 
coming  to  the  ears  of  the  commandant,  he  made  the 
rivals  draw  lots  for  her. 


54  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Once,  one  of  the  girls  sent  out  refused  to  marry,  al- 
though, as  Bienville  wrote,  "  many  good  partis  had  been 
offered  to  her."  And  thus,  also,  this  girl  has  been  a 
fruitful  theme  for  idle  feminine  musings  breeding  the 
still  more  idle  longings  to  know  more  of  her,  her  name, 
her  reasons,  her  after  life.  And  in  this  connection 
there  comes  also  to  the  mind  a  quaint  fragment  in  the 
voluminous  complaints  and  accusations  against  Bien- 
ville, written  by  his  enemies  to  the  home  government. 
It  is  a  letter  from  the  superior  of  the  Grey  Sisters,  who 
had  been  sent  out  in  charge  of  a  cargo  of  girls  ;  and 
she  says  that  the  Sieur  de  Boisbriant,  a  kinsman  of 
Bienville's,  had  had  the  intention  of  marrying  her  ; 
but  that  M.  de  Bienville  and  his  brother  had  pre- 
vented him  ;  and  she  was  sure  M.  de  Bienville  had  not 
the  qualities  needful  for  a  governor  of  Louisiana. 

In  the  course  of  twenty-five  years  these  women 
created  the  need  of  other  women.  There  were  chil- 
dren in  the  colony  now,  and  wives,  home  wives,  or,  as 
we  might  say,  Creole  wives,  to  be  educated  for  the 
Creole  youths ;  there  were  orphans  to  be  reared,  the 
old  and  infirm  must  be  cared  for;  so  again  recourse 
was  had  to  the  mother  country,  and  an  appeal  made  for 
women,  but  not  wives,  —  sisters.  And  the  Company  of 
the  West,  through  the  Jesuit  father  in  New  Orleans, 
M.  Beaubois,  contracted  with  the  Ursulines  of  Rouen 
for  the  establishment  of  a  convent  of  their  order  in 
New  Orleans. 

It  is  with  feelings  of  the  tenderest  veneration  and 
pride  that  the  Louisianians  tell  of  the  Ursuline  sisters. 
They  are  the  spiritual  mothers  of  the  real  mothers  of 
Louisiana.  It  is  with  intent  that  their  advent  in  the 
colony  has  been  chronicled  this  way,  just  after  and  in 


NEW  ORLEANS.  55 

connection  with  those  rude  pioneer  efforts  to  establish 
homes  and  domestic  life  in  a  new  and  still  barbarous 
country ;  it  seems  proper  that  the  mission  of  nature 
should  serve  as  introduction  to  the  mission  of  grace. 
To  say  that  the  convent  of  our  good  Ursulines  of  New 
Orleans  is  the  oldest  establishment  in  the  United  States 
for  the  education  of  young  ladies,  that  it  made  the 
first  systematic  attempt  here  to  teach  Indian  and  negro 
girls,  that  it  was  founded  in  1727  under  the  auspices 
of  Louis  XV.,  and  that  the  brevet  from  that  monarch 
is  still  to  be  seen  among  the  archives  of  the  convent,  — 
to  say  this  seems  to  express  so  little ;  it  is  only  the 
necessary,  that  skeleton,  a  historical  fact.  It  is  not 
that  way  that  one  begins  the  story  of  the  Ursulines  in 
Louisiana ;  one  always  begins  with  Madeleine  Hachard. 
Madeleine  Hachard  was  a  young  postulant  in  the 
Ursuline  convent  of  Rouen,  who  obtained  the  consent 
of  her  father  to  accompany  the  mission  to  Louisiana. 
On  account  of  her  facility  with  her  pen,  and,  we  are 
quite  sure  of  it,  on  account  of  her  constant,  hearty,  and 
cheerful  amiability,  she  was  selected  by  the  superior, 
Mother  Tranchepain,  to  act  as  her  secretary  and  write 
the  reports  of  the  mission  to  the  mother  convent  in 
France.  But  while  Mother  Superior  Tranchepain 
dictated,  her  mind  fixed  on  her  convent  and  her  mis- 
sion, the  young  sister  Madeleine  wrote,  her  thoughts 
fixed  on  her  dear  father  and  all  her  good  sisters  and 
brothers  in  Rouen ;  and  for  every  letter  from  the 
mother  superior  to  her  spiritual  relations,  we  have  one 
from  Madeleine  to  her  natural  ones,  —  the  same,  letters, 
with  only  the  interpolations  of  endearments  and  care- 
less variations  of  a  mind  unconsciously  copying.  Her 
good  parents  in  Rouen,  pleased  beyond  measure  with 


56  NEW  ORLEANS. 

their  daughter's  epistolary  talent,  and  proud  of  her 
wondrous  experiences,  had  the  letters  published  imme- 
diately, for  the  print  bears  the  date  of  1728.  Mother 
Tranchepain's  letters  were  published  later,  and  thus 
Madeleine's  innocent  plagiarisms  were  brought  to  light. 
The  reverend  Mothers  Tranchepain,  Jude,  and  Bou- 
langer,  chosen  respectively  for  superior,  assistant  and 
depository,  went  to  Paris  in  advance,  to  sign  the  con- 
tract with  the  gentlemen  of  the  Company  of  the  Indies. 
They  were  joined  in  Paris  by  Madeleine  Hachard, 
Madame  St.  Francois  Xavier,  of  the  Ursulines  of 
Havre,  and  Madame  Cavelier  of  Rouen,  from  the  com- 
munity of  Elboeuf.  One  cannot  forbear  the  surmise 
that  this  latter  belonged  to  the  family  of  Robert 
Cavelier  de  la  Salle,  and  joined  the  mission  through 
hereditary  affinity  for  Louisiana.  It  was  on  Thursday, 
the  24th  of  October,  1726,  when  Madeleine  took  the 
stage  from  Rouen,  that  her  mission  to  Louisiana  — 
that  is,  her  wondrous  adventures  —  began.  Nothing 
but  the  fear  of  garrulity  can  excuse  the  churlishness  of 
not  giving  her  account  of  it,  —  how  they  arrived  in 
Paris,  at  four  o'clock  of  the  afternoon,  at  the  place 
where  the  stage  stops,  and  found  the  portress  of  the 
Ursulines  of  St.  Jacques  waiting  for  them,  and  that 
she  had  been  waiting  for  them  ever  since  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  And  how,  during  their  forced  stay 
of  a  month  in  Paris,  the  comforts  and  interests  of  the 
convent  life  there  tempted  her  almost  to  feel  tempted 
to  accept  the  invitation  of  the  mother  superior  of  St. 
Jacques,  and  give  up  the  mission  to  Louisiana.  But, 
on  the  8th  of  December,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  coach  for  Brittany  stopped  at  the  convent  door  for 
them,  and  the  sisters  took  their  places  in  it  for  Lorient. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  57 

The  consciousness  of  the  eventfulness  of  her  journey 
thrills  Madeleine  through  every  moment  of  it,  and  (this 
was  before  her  official  duties  had  commenced)  her  only 
fear  is  that  she  will  forget  to  tell  her  father  some  hap- 
pening of  it.  It  should  have  been  explained  that  the  rev- 
erend Father  Doutreleau  and  Brother  Crucy,  Jesuits,  who 
were  also  going  to  Louisiana,  accompanied  the  Ursulines. 
To  commence  with,  they  dined  at  Versailles  and  visited 
the  magnificent  palace  of  the  King,  and  saw  so  much  to 
glut  their  curiosity  and  wonder,  that  the  young  novice 
had  a  passing  thought  that  she  should  shut  her  eyes  to 
mortify  the  flesh.  The  next  day's  adventure  was  fur- 
nished by  a  good-looking  cavalier,  who,  pursuing  the  same 
route  as  they,  proposed  to  pay  for  and  occupy  the  vacant 
seat  in  their  vehicle,  in  order,  as  he  said,  to  pass  the  time 
more  agreeably  in  such  pleasant  company.  His  proposi- 
tion was  not  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  agreeable 
company,  however,  and  Father  Doutreleau  gave  him  to 
understand  that  the  ladies  observed  a  three  hours' 
silence  every  morning  and  evening.  The  cavalier 
replied  that  if  the  ladies  did  not  wish  to  talk,  he 
would  entertain  himself  with  Brother  Crucy.  But, 
when  he  made  himself  known  as  the  president  of 
Mayenne,  where  their  boxes,  valises,  and  packages 
were  to  be  examined,  they  all  clearly  saw  that  they 
would  have  need  of  him,  and  not  only  no  more  demur 
was  made  to  his  joining  the  party,  but  they  entertained 
him  so  well  that,  on  their  arrival  at  Mayenne,  their 
luggage  was  put  through  the  customs  in  a  trice.  We 
must  not  forget  to  say, — as  Madeleine  did  until  the  end 
of  her  letter,  —  that  the  six  hours  of  silence  announced 
by  the  priest  were  not  scrupulously  observed  during 
the  episode,  by  the  ladies. 


58  NEW   ORLEANS. 

They  then  passed  that  dangerous  place  where,  eight 
days  before,  the  stage  from  Caen  to  Paris  had  been 
robbed.  And  after  that,  the  roads  becoming  more  and 
more  impassable,  they  had  to  start  long  before  day 
and  travel  late  into  the  night.  Once,  on  the  road,  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  their  coach  bogged,  before 
they  had  gone  two  miles,  and  while  it  was  being 
dragged  out  by  a  reinforcement  to  their  twelve  horses 
of  twenty-one  oxen,  the  party  walked  on.  After  three 


miles  on  foot,  they  found  themselves  very  cold  and  tired, 
but  not  a  house  was  to  be  seen  to  grant  them  warmth 
and  rest;  so  they  were  obliged  to  sit  on  the  ground,  and 
Father  Doutreleau,  mounting  a  convenient  elevation, 
began,  like  another  St.  John  the  Baptist,  to  preach  to 
them,  exhorting  them  to  penitence;  but,  as  Madeleine 
writes,  what  they  needed  was  patience,  not  penitence. 
Resuming  their  march,  they  finally,  to  their  great  joy, 
discovered  a  little  cottage  in  which  there  was  only  one 
poor  old  woman,  in  bed,  and  it  was  not  without  many 


NEW  ORLEANS.  59 

prayers  and  promises  that  she  allowed  them  to  enter. 
She  had  neither  wood  nor  candle,  and  the  weary,  frozen 
pilgrims  were  forced  to  content  themselves  with  a  fire 
of  straw,  by  the  light  of  which  the  reverend  father  read 
his  breviary,  while  the  rest  waited  for  daylight.  The 
stage  did  not  come  up  with  them  until  ten  o'clock;  and 
even  then,  most  of  that  day's  journey  was  performed  on 
foot.  But,  in  spite  of  their  fatigue,  Madeleine  says 
they  never  left  off  laughing;  amusing  adventures  con- 
stantly happening  to  them.  They  were  mud  up  to  their 
very  ears  ;  and  the  funniest  part  of  this  was  the  veils  of 
the  two  mothers,  which  were  spotted  all  over  by  the 
whitish  clay,  giving  the  wearers  a  most  comical  appear- 
ance. And  so  on:  every  night  a  new  town,  a  different 
tavern,  or  a  different  convent  to  stop  in;  every  day  a 
new  page  of  adventures.  During  a  visit  to  one  of  the 
convents,  Father  Doutreleau  was  taken  by  the  superior 
for  a  priest  of  the  Oratory,  and,  as  no  one  corrected  the 
mistake,  there  was  much  private  merriment  over  it. 

Sister  Madeleine  here  remembers  that  she  has  again 
forgotten  to  give  her  father  an  important  detail,  —  that 
all  the  way  from  Paris,  Brother  Crucy  and  she  have 
been  at  war.  When  they  left  Paris,  his  superior  had 
charged  her  to  be  Brother  Crucy's  director,  and  the 
superior  of  the  Ursulines  at  St.  Jacques  had  charged 
Brother  Crucy  to  be  Madeleine's  director,  —  and  so  they 
were  equipped  for  many  mischievous  sallies  at  one 
another's  expense,  contributing  not  a  little  to  the  gen- 
eral gaiety  and  amusement.  But,  to  quote  Madeleine 
again,  when  one  travels,  one  laughs  at  everything. 

They  remained  at  the  convent  in  Hennebon  until 
their  vessel  at  Lorient  was  ready  to  sail,  and  here 
Madeleine  took  the  veil,  her  novitiate  being  shortened 


60  NEW  ORLEANS. 

as  a  special  favour.  She  signs  herself  henceforth, 
"  Hachard  de  St.  Stanislas." 

Three  Ursulines  joined  the  mission  here,  which  raised 
its  number  to  eight  sisters,  two  postulants,  and  a  ser- 
vant. The  Jesuits  were  taking  with  them  to  Louisiana 
several  mechanics ;  "as  for  us,  my  dear  father,  do  not 
be  scandalized,  it  is  the  fashion  of  the  country,  we  are 
taking  a  Moor  to  serve  us,  and  we  are  also  taking  a  very 
pretty  little  cat  that  wanted  to  join  the  community,  sup- 
posing apparently,  in  Louisiana  as  in  France,  there  are 
rats  and  mice.  .  .  .  Our  reverend  fathers  do  not  wish 
us  to  say  'our,'  as  you  know  it  is  used  in  the  convent, 
because  they  say  the  first  thing  we  know  we  will  hear 
the  sailors  making  fun  of  us,  with  'our  soup,'  'our 
cup,'  and  so  on.  And,  as  it  happens,  ever  since  it  has 
been  forbidden  us,  I  cannot  prevent  myself  from  using 
'our'  even  to  saying  '•our  nose.'  Father  Tartarin  (one 
of  the  Jesuits  bound  for  Louisiana)  often  says  to  me, 
'  My  sister,  lift  up  our  head.' ' 

At  last,  "the  day,  the  great  day,  the  longed  for  day," 
arrived,  when  word  was  sent  from  Lorient  that  they 
must  get  ready  to  embark  in  an  hour.  The  joy  of  all 
was  inexpressible,  but  poor  Madeleine's  grief  at  leaving 
her  parents  breaks  out  in  a  sob  at  the  end  of  her  letter. 
She  assures  them  that  the  voice  of  God  alone  could 
have  separated  her  from  them,  and  begs  them,  "  in  mercy, 
not  to  forget  their  daughter." 

Her  second  letter  was  dated  from  New  Orleans,  and 
gives  an  account  of  the  voyage  across  the  ocean.  Surely, 
sailors  were  never  better  justified  in  their  superstition 
of  the  Jonah  luck  of  priests,  and  it  does  seem  that 
Jonah's  eventual  escape  was  no  more  miraculous  than 
that  of  our  band  of  missionaries.  To  begin  with  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  61 

first  alarm,  the  "  Gironde  "  struck  on  the  rocks  just 
outside  of  Lorient,  and  almost  went  to  pieces  forthwith, 
in  the  estimation  of  the  frightened  passengers.  The 
winds  then  commenced  their  malific  contrariness, 
and  beat  directly  against  their  route  and  kept  the 
ship  pitching  so  violently,  that  the  sisters  not  only 
could  not  prevent  their  food  from  upsetting  at  table, 
but  could  not  prevent  themselves  from  being  thrown 
one  against  the  other.  But  neither  this,  nor  their 
sea-sickness,  nor  their  uncomfortable  quarters  (all 
six  in  a  cabin,  eighteen  by  six)  could  destroy  their 
good  humour  nor  arrest  their  laughter ;  and  in  all 
the  trying  experiences,  still  to  be  endured,  the  mother 
superior  never  once  lost  her  calmness  and  courage, 
nor  for  a  moment  regretted  the  holy  mission  she  had 
undertaken. 

A  terrible  -storm  caused  the  death  of  most  of  the 
live  stock,  and  the  fare  was  reduced  from  the  begin- 
ning to  short  rations  of  rice,  beans  cooked  with  suet, 
as  they  had  no  butter,  salt  meat,  and  pork  so  bad 
that  they  could  not  eat  it ;  and  even  this  did  not,  in 
Madeleine's  chronicle,  depress  their  spirits,  In  fifteen 
days,  they  did  not  make  the  progress  of  three,  so  the 
water  and  bread  had  to  be  measured  out  to  them. 
A  short  stop  was  made  at  Madeira,  where  the  supplies 
were  replenished.  But,  two  days  after  leaving  the 
island,  while  the  wind  beat  again  directly  against  them, 
a  pirate  was  sighted  !  Immediately  preparations  were 
made  for  a  fight.  Each  man  armed  himself  and  took 
his  position  ;  the  cannon  were  loaded.  It  was  decided 
that  during  the  engagement  the  nuns  should  remain 
shut  up  below.  The  secular  women,  there  were 
three  of  them  aboard,  dressed  themselves  in  men's 


62  NEW  ORLEANS. 

clothing  and  pluckily  joined  the  combatants.  Pere 
Tartarin  stationed  himself  at  the  stern,  Pere  Doutreleau 
at  the  bow,  Brother  Crucy  on  the  bridge  to  pay  out 
ammunition  to  the  men.  "  All  these  warriors,  armed 
to  the  teeth,  were  admirable  in  their  courage.  .  .  . 
"  As  for  us,  our  only  arms  were  the  chaplets  in  our 
hands.  We  were  not  cast  down,  thanks  be  to  the 
Lord  !  and  not  one  of  us  showed  any  weakness.  We 
were  charmed  to  see  the  courage  of  our  officers  and 
passengers,  who,  it  seemed  to  us,  were  going  to  crush 
the  enemy  at  the  first  blow."  .  .  .  All  the  doughty 
preparations,  fortunately,  were  useless,  the  suspicious 
vessel,  after  much  circling  and  doubling,  concluding 
to  retire.  .  .  .  And  they  had  a  similar  alarm  after- 
wards. On  Good  Friday  they  crossed  the  tropic, 
and  the  usual  burlesque  ceremonies  were  deferred. 
Instead,  there  was  a  devout  adoration  of  the  cross, 
observed  by  the  nuns,  walking  barefoot,  the  priests, 
officers,  passengers,  and  crew.  On  the  feast  of  the 
Holy  Sacrament  there  was  a  pretty  procession  on 
deck. 

As  if  possessed  by  a  mocking  devil,  the  sea  grew 
more  and  more  violent  and  threatening,  and  the 
sisters  had  to  tie  themselves  in  bed  to  stay  there, 
and  their  promised  land  seemed  more  inaccessible 
than  ever.  It  is  a  surprise  that  the  "  Gironde " 
arrived  even  at  St.  Domingo.  Here  they  laid  in 
another  supply  of  provisions,  and  loaded  with  a  cargo 
of  sugar,  the  nuns  and  priests  each  receiving  a  present 
of  a  barrel.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  had  its  pirates 
for  them  also,  and  to  the  contrary  winds  of  the 
Atlantic  it  added  its  own  contrary  currents  and 
deathly  tropical  calms.  Borne  out  of  their  course 


NEW  ORLEANS.  63 

they  came  in  sight  of  an  island  which  was  taken  for 
Dauphin  Island;  close  upon  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  sisters  were  all  on  deck  yielding  without 
restraint  to  their  feelings  of  joy,  when  all  of  a  sudden 
the  vessel  grounded  and  with  such  a  shock  that  "we 
took  our  rosaries  and  said  our  '  In  manus '  believing 
that  all  was  over  and  that  our  Ursuline  establishment 
would  be  made  then  and  there."  In  vain  every  ma- 
noeuvre was  tried  to  move  the  ship  ;  she  only  settled 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  sand.  The  captain  decided 
to  lighten  her.  The  cannon  were  thrown  over,  the  bal- 
last ;  the  luggage  was  to  go  next ;  the  nuns  resigning 
themselves  heartily,  "  in  order  to  endure  the  greater 
poverty"  —but  the  sugar  was  selected  as  a  sacrifice, 
and  the  whole  cargo,  even  to  the  barrels  given  to 
the  nuns  and  priests,  went  into  the  Gulf.  Still,  the 
vessel  did  not  budge,  and  again  the  luggage  was 
doomed,  and  again,  with  the  permission  of  God  and 
the  protection  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  the  liquor  belonging 
to  the  Company  was  substituted  ;  and  a  lot  more  of 
ballast  found  somewhere. 

Madeleine  understood  that  they  were  not  to  go  ashore 
in  the  island,  except  in  case  of  dire  necessity,  because 
it  was  inhabited  by  cannibals,  who  would  not  only  eat 
them,  but  put  them  through  preliminary  tortures. 
The  "  Gironde,"  by  the  help  of  the  rising  tide,  was 
finally  eased  away ;  and  so  proceeded  hopefully  to  its 
next  accident,  on  another  sandbar,  against  which  it  beat 
and  thumped  so  fearfully  that  there  could  be  absolutely 
no  hope  now  except  in  the  almightiness  of  God.  Even 
the  captain  was  astonished  that  the  vessel  could  stand 
it,  saying  that  nine  ships  out  of  ten  would  have  gone  to 
pieces ;  that  the  "  Gironde "  must  be  made  of  iron. 


64  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Every  one  fell  to  praying,  no  matter  where,  each  one 
making  vows  to  no  matter  whom,  —  "  all  being  in  such 
a  state  of  confusion  and  alarm  that  we  could  not  agree 
upon  any  particular  saint  to  recommend  ourselves  to. 
.  .  .  Most  of  us  were  at  the  feet  of  our  amiable  supe- 
rior, who  represented  to  us  that  we  ought  to  have  less 
trouble  than  the  others  in  suffering  death,  since  before 
embarking  we  had  made  the  perfect  and  entire  sacrifice 
of  our  life  to  the  Lord.  ..."  The  vessel  was  again 
delivered  from  the  jaws  of  destruction,  but  all  these 
delays  had  exhausted  the  supply  of  water,  which  had 
to  be  measured  out,  a  pint  a  day  to  each  person.  As 
the  heat  was  intense,  there  was  great  suffering  from 
thirst. 

Five  months  to  a  day  after  leaving  France,  the 
"  Gironde  "  anchored  in  the  harbour  of  the  Belize.  The 
nuns,  with  their  luggage,  in  two  barges,  proceeded 
towards  the  establishment  of  the  commandant,  where 
they  were  to  remain  until  boats  could  be  procured  from 
New  Orleans  for  them.  But  their  troubles  pursued 
them  still ;  the  sea  was  rough,  the  wind  against  them, 
the  barges  too  heavily  loaded,  and  the  sailors  drunk. 
The  poor  women  were  glad  enough  to  be  put  ashore  at 
a  little  half-acre  of  an  island  in  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
where  Madeleine  records  that  in  their  lives  they  had 
never  heard  men  curse  so  fluently  as  these  sailors  did. 
The  commandant  sent  his  own  pirogue  for  them,  and 
this  time  they  reached  their  resting-place. 

After  a  week's  waiting,  boats  arrived  from  New  Or- 
leans for  them,  two  pirogues  and  a  barge.  They  were 
seven  days  on  the  river ;  and  even  the  intrepid  Made- 
leine confesses  that  all  the  fatigues  of  the  "  Gironde  " 
were  nothing  in  comparison  to  those  now  experienced. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  65 

Every  day  they  stopped  one  hour  before  sunset,  in  order 
to  get  to  bed  before  the  mosquitoes  —  Messieurs  les 
Maringouins — and  the  Frappe  d'abords  commenced  oper- 
ations. The  oarsmen  made  their  mosquito  baires  for 
them,  by  bending  long  canes,  fixing  the  ends  in  the 
ground  over  their  mattresses,  and  covering  the  frame 
with  a  linen  which  they  securely  tucked  in  all  around. 
(Baire  is  still  the  Creole,  bar  the  American,  name  for  a 
mosquito  netting.)  Twice  the  mattresses  were  laid  in 
mud ;  and  once,  a  heavy  storm  breaking  out  in  the 
night  and  pouring  through  their  bars,  Madeleine 
declares  that  they  floated.  During  the  day  it  was 
barely  more  comfortable.  The  pirogues  were  piled 
high  with  freight,  upon  the  top  of  which  the  nuns 
perched  in  a  cramped  position,  not  daring  to  move  for 
fear  of  upsetting  the  boat  and  going  to  feed  the  fish. 
Their  food  was  trappers'  fare,  biscuit  and  salt  meat. 
Madeleine,  writing  after  it  was  all  over,  gives  the  true 
traveller's  sigh  of  satisfaction,  however  :  "All  these  little 
troubles  are  trying  at  the  time,  but  one  is  well  recom- 
pensed for  it  in  the  end  by  the  pleasure  one  takes  in 
telling  of  them,  each  one  recounting  his  own  advent- 
ures. ..." 

The  whole  colony  was  immeasurably  surprised  to 
hear  of  the  safe  arrival  of  the  nuns,  the  "  Gironde " 
being  given  up  long  ago  for  lost.  As  it  was  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning  when  their  boats  touched  the 
landing,  few  people  were  there  to  meet  them. 

The  convent  that  was  being  built  by  the  Company 
was  far  from  completion,  so  Bienville's  hotel  was 
rented  for  them.  Madeleine  describes  it  to  her  father : 
"  The  finest  house  in  the  town  ;  a  two-story  building 
with  an  attic,  .  .  .  with  six  doors  in  the  first  story. 


66 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


In  all  the  stories  there  are  large  windows,  but  with  no 
glass  ;  the  frames  are  closed  with  very  thin  linen,  which 
admits  as  much  light  as  glass.  Our  town,"  she  con- 
tinues, "  is  very  handsome,  well  constructed  and  regu- 
larly built,  as  much  as  I  could  judge  on  the  day  of  our 
arrival ;  for,  ever  since  that  day  we  have  remained  clois- 
tered in  our  dwelling.  .  .  .  The  streets  are  large  and 
straight ;  .  .  .  the  houses  well  built,  with  upright  joists, 
filled  with  mortar  between  the  interstices,  and  the  ex- 


terior  whitewashed  with  lime.  In  the  interior  they 
are  wainscotted.  .  .  .  The  colonists  are  very  proud 
of  their  capital.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  there  is  a  song 
currently  sung  here,  which  emphatically  declares  that 
New  Orleans  is  as  beautiful  as  Paris.  Beyond  that  it 
is  impossible  to  go.  .  .  .  The  women  here  are  ex- 
tremely ignorant  as  to  the  means  of  securing  their 
salvation,  but  they  are  very  expert  in  the  art  of  dis- 
playing their  beauty.  There  is  so  much  luxury  in  this 
town  that  there  is  no  distinction  among  the  classes  so 


NEW  ORLEANS.  67 

far  as  dress  goes.  The  magnificence  of  display  is  equal 
in  all.  Most  of  them  reduce  themselves  and  their 
family  to  the  hard  lot  of  living  at  home  on  nothing 
but  sagamity,  and  flaunt  abroad  in  robes  of  velvet 
and  damask,  ornamented  with  the  most  costly  ribbons. 
They  paint  and  rouge  to  hide  the  ravages  of  time, 
and  wear  on  their  faces,  as  embellishment,  small  black 
patches." 

In  another  letter  she  finds  it  impossible  to  realize 
that  she  is  in  Louisiana,  there  being  "  as  much  magnifi- 
cence and  politeness  "  there  as  in  France,  and  gold  and 
silver  stuffs  in  common  wear,  although  costing  three 
times  as  much  as  in  the  mother  country.  As  for  food, 
she  rattles  off  an  astounding  list  for  the  good  Rouen- 
nais  ears  :  wild  beef,  venison,  swans,  geese,  fowls, 
ducks,  sarcelles,  pheasants,  partridges,  cailles,  and 
fish:  cat  ('an  excellent  fish'),  carp,  bass,  salmon,  be- 
sides infinite  varieties  not  known  in  France.  For  vege- 
tables and  fruits  there  were  wild  peas  and  beans,  and 
rice ;  pineapples,  watermelons,  potatoes,  sabotins  (a 
kind  of  egg-plant),  figs,  bananas,  pecans,  pumpkins. 
.  .  .  They  drank  chocolate  and  caf£  au  lait  every  day, 
and  were  accustoming  themselves  wonderfully  well  to 
the  "  native  food  of  the  country,"  bread  made  of  rice 
or  corn  and  mixed  with  flour,  wild  grapes,  muscadines 
or  socos,  but  principally  riz  au  lait  and  sagamity;  hominy 
cooked  with  grease  and  pieces  of  meat  or  fish  (the 
original  of  the  Creole  Jambalaya,  in  which  rice  has 
since  been  most  toothsomely  substituted  for  corn). 

Tradition  asserts  that  the  Ursulines  did  not  long 
remain  in  Bienville's  hotel,  finding  it  too  small.  As 
soon  as  a  sufficient  building  could  be  hastily  con- 
structed, they  removed  to  the  plantation  given  them. 


68  NEW  ORLEANS. 

whose  location  is  commemorated  by  those  two  quaint 
straggling  thoroughfares  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city, 
Nun  and  Religious  streets. 

The  colonists,  delighted  to  be  relieved  of  the  expense 
of  sending  their  daughters  to  France  for  an  education, 
soon  provided  the  Ursulines  with  all  the  scholars  they 
could  attend  to.  Seeing  the  young  negro  and  Indian 
girls  growing  up  in  ignorance  and  idleness  about  them, 
the  good  sisters  gathered  them  into  the  convent  of 
afternoons,  formed  them  into  classes,  and  taught  them 
their  letters,  catechism,  and  sewing.  The  orphanage 
was  opened,  and  the  care  of  the  sick  in  the  hospital 
immediately  taken  in  hand.  And  the  year  following, 
the  governor  gave  them  charge  of  the  last  shipment  of 
girls  sent  by  the  mother  country.  This  was  an  inter- 
esting lot  of  sixty,  who,  intended  as  wives  only  for 
young  men  of  established  character  and  means,  were 
of  authenticated  spotless  reputation,  having  been  care- 
fully selected  from  good  families.  They  are  known  as 
"les  filles  a  la  cassette,"  from  the  little  trunk  or  cas- 
sette, containing  a  trousseau,  given  each  one  by  the 
Company.  They  stayed  in  the  convent  while  the  young 
men  of  character  and  means  availed  themselves  of  the 
notable  opportunity  offered.  Here  and  there  in  the 
state,  tracing  up  some  Creole  family,  one  comes  to 
a  "fille  a  la  cassette"  ;  and  it  is  a  tribute  to  the 
careful  selection  of  the  Company  that  she  seems  always 
found  maintaining  the  recommendation  of  her  good 
reputation  and  that  of  her  family.  Almost  at  the  same 
time  the  Natchez  massacre  sent  a  boatload  of  orphans 
to  the  asylum.  Indeed,  as  the  items  and  records  roll 
into  the  convent,  and  one  looks  back  upon  its  manifold 
ministrations,  and  sees  the  nucleus  of  good  that  it  was, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  69 

one  must  conclude  that  one  might  as  well  try  to  found 
a  city  without  wives  as  without  sisters. 

It  took  seven  years  for  the  company  to  finish  the 
convent.  In  the  meantime,  the  administrators  of  the 
Company  of  the  West  had  surrendered  the  Louisiana 
Charter,  and  the  colony  had  once  more  returned  into 
the  wardship  of  the  royal  government.  Pontchartrain 
immediately  reinstated  Bienville  in  his  old  position  of 
governor.  It  was  he,  therefore,  who,  in  July,  1734, 
formally  handed  over  the  new  convent  to  the  Ursulines, 
and  installed  them  therein.  We  see  his  fondness  for 
ceremony  and  state  in  the  account  of  it  :  At  five 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  convent  bells  rang  forth 
a  merry  peal.  The  colonial  troops  marched  up  and 
ranged  themselves  on  each  side  of  the  gate.  Bienville, 
with  the  intendant  and  a  suite  of  distinguished  citizens, 
arrived  to  serve  as  escort.  The  chapel  doors  opened 
and  the  procession  filed  out.  First  came  the  citizens ; 
after  them  the  children  of  the  orphanage  and  day 
school,  followed  by  forty  ladies  of  the  city,  all  holding 
lighted  tapers  and  singing  hymns.  Then  came  twenty 
young  girls  dressed  in  white,  preceding  twelve  others  in 
snow  white  robes  and  veils,  bearing  palm  branches,  repre- 
senting St.  Ursula  and  her  eleven  thousand  virgins, 
attended  by  little  girls  dressed  as  angels.  The  young 
lady  who  personated  St.  Ursula  wore  a  costly  robe 
and  mantle,  and  a  crown  glittering  with  diamonds  and 
pearls,  from  which  hung  a  rich  veil ;  in  her  hand  she 
carried  a  heart  pierced  with  an  arrow.  Then  came  the 
nineteen  Ursulines,  in  their  choir  mantles  and  veils, 
holding  lighted  candles ;  after  them  the  clergy  bear- 
ing the  sacrament  under  a  rich  canopy.  Bienville,  the 
intendant,  and  the  military  officers,  all  with  lighted 


70 


NEW   ORLEANS. 


candles,  walked  at  the  head  of  the  royal  troops,  which 
closed  the  procession,  their  drums  and  trumpets  blend- 
ing with  the  chanting  of  the  nuns  and  priests  ahead 
of  them.  As  soon  as  they  came  in  sight  of  the  new 
building,  its  bells  began  a  chime  of  welcome,  join- 
ing in  with  the  fifes,  drums,  trumpets,  and  singing. 
That  new  convent  is  the  present  Archbishopric, — the 
oldest  building  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  oldest 
conventual  structure  in  the  United  States.  As  much 


as  a  building  can,  it  may  be  said  to  be  indigenous  to  the 
soil.  Its  sturdy  walls  are  of  home-made  brick,  the 
beams  and  rafters  are  rough-hewn  cypresses  that  grew, 
perhaps,  on  the  very  spot  where  now  they  support  their 
ecclesiastical  burden  ;  the  bolts,  bars,  nails,  hinges,  and 
balustrades  are  of  iron,  handwrought  in  the  government 
workshops  by  brute  African  slaves,  as  they  were  then 
designated. 

Here  Madeleine  Hachard  lived  until  1762,  when  she 


NEW  ORLEANS.  71 

returned  to  France.  For  ninety  years  the  gentle  sis- 
ters here  pursued  their  devotional  works  among  the 
women  of  the  colony,  sowing  the  seeds  of  education 
and  religion,  until,  generation  after  generation  passing 
through  their  hands,  —  daughters,  grand-daughters, 
great-grand-daughters,  rich  and  poor,  brides  for  govern- 
ors and  officers,  noble  and  base,  bourgeoise  and  military, 
— they  have  become  a  hereditary  force  in  the  colony  and 
state  ;  and  in  truth  it  is  not  exaggeration  to  say  that 
there  is  no  Louisiana  woman  living  to-day  who,  directly 
or  indirectly,  is  not  beholden,  for  some  virtue,  charm, 
or  accomplishment,  to  that  devoted  band  who  struggled 
across  the  ocean  in  the  "  Gironde." 

Panics  of  Indian  massacres,  and  slave  insurrections, 
wars,  revolutions  and  epidemics,  have  beat  about  the 
old  convent  walls,  without  power  to  disturb  the  sacred 
vocation  within.  Through  them  the  sisters  heard  the 
shouts  of  the  frantic  population  huzzaing  over  their 
expulsion  of  hated  Ulloa.  From  their  windows  they 
saw  his  ship  pass  down  the  river ;  and  from  the  same 
windows  they  watched  O'Reilly's  twenty  sail  pass  up. 
They  saw  the  banner  of  France  descend  from  its  staff 
in  the  Place  d'Armes,  and  the  gold  and  red  of  Spain 
unfold  its  domination  to  the  breeze  ;  and  it  was  in  the 
sanctuary,  behind  these  walls,  that  on  their  knees  they 
heard  the  musket  shots,  in  the  barracks  yard  near  by, 
that  despatched  the  six  patriots  out  of  life.  They  saw 
the  flag  of  Spain  replaced  by  the  Tricolor  of  the 
French  Republic,  and  the  Tricolor  by  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  of  the  American  Republic.  It  must  have  seemed 
to  them  —  particularly  to  that  one  old  sister  who  lived 
through  it  all,  to  shake  hands  with  Jackson  in  1815  — 
that  no  government  in  the  community  was  steadfast 


72  NEW  ORLEANS. 

except  that  of  St.  Ursula,  nothing  lasting  in  life  save 
the  mission  of  wives  and  sisters. 

Here,  during  the  never  to  be  forgotten  days  of 
1814-15,  they  listened  to  the  cannonading  from  the 
battlefields  below,  where  a  handful  of  Americans  were 
standing  up  against  the  mighty  men  of  valour  of  Great 
Britain,  and  when  the  day  of  Chalmette  came,  with 
anxious  eyes  they  watched  from  their  dormer  windows 
and  balconies  the  smoke  rising  from  the  battlefield, 
the  rosary  slipping  through  their  fingers,  their  lips 
muttering  vows,  prayers,  invocations.  All  night  long 
they  had  knelt  before  their  chapel  altar,  and  they  had 
brought  and  placed  over  the  entrance  of  their  convent 
their  precious  image  of  "Our  Lady  of  Prompt  Succour." 
Twice  before  she  had  miraculously  rescued  them,  turn- 
ing back  the  flames  of  conflagration  burning  the  vieux 
carre  bare.  And  again  she  heard  them,  and  preserved 
their  entrance  inviolate,  and  saved  the  little  city,  so  hard 
pressed  by  overwhelming  numbers.  And  when  Gen- 
eral Jackson  left  the  Cathedral  door  after  the  solemn 
high  mass  and  thanksgiving  for  his  victory,  he  failed 
not  to  go  to  the  convent,  and  pay  his  respects  to  the 
sisters,  and  thank  them  for  their  vows  and  prayers. 
They  then  had  opened  their  doors  wide  and  turned 
their  schoolrooms  into  infirmaries  for  sick  and  wounded 
of  both  armies,  upon  whom  they  were  lavishing  every 
care. 

Every  year  since,  on  the  8th  of  January,  high  mass 
is  celebrated  and  a  Te  Deum  sung  for  the  victory,  with 
a  special  devotion  to  "  Our  Lady  of  Prompt  Succour." 
This  annual  devotion,  erected  into  a  confraternity  of 
Our  Lady  of  Prompt  Succour,  has  spread  throughout 
the  United  States,  and  now,  in  this  year  of  1895,  the 


NEW  ORLEANS, 


73 


Sovereign  Pontiff  has  conferred  the  privilege  of  solemn 
coronation  upon  the  statue  of  the  divine  patroness  of 
New  Orleans,  a  privilege  restricted  to  the  most  re- 
nowned sanctuaries  alone  of  Christendom,  and  the  first 
of  the  kind  to  take  place  in  the  United  States. 

In  1824  the  Ursulines  removed  to  their  present  es- 
tablishment on  the  river  bank,  then  three  miles  below, 
now  well  inside,  the  city  limits.  With  its  groves  of 


octoe 


pecan  trees,  its  avenues  of  oaks,  its  flowers  and  palms, 
its  cloisters  and  terraces  overlooking  the  river,  its 
massive,  quaint  buildings  filled  with  generous  dormi- 
tories and  halls,  its  batten  doors  opening  on  broad  gal- 
leries ;  its  chapel  and  miraculous  statue,  its  historic 
past  and  present  activity,  its  cultivated,  sweet-voiced 
sisters,  the  old  Ursuline  Convent,  as  it  has  come  to  be 
called,  is  still  the  preferred  centre  of  feminine  ednca- 


74  NEW  ORLEANS. 

tion  for  Creoles,  and  a  favourite  one  for  all  Roman 
Catholic  Americans  in  tlie  state. 

The  young  girls  of  1895,  in  their  convent  costume,  flit 
through  corridor,  gallery,  cloister,  to  schoolroom  and 
chapel,  or  pecan  grove  and  terrace,  continuing  the 
study,  the  prayer,  the  romps,  the  aspirations  and  fancies, 
of  the  young  girls  of  1727,  watching  with  impatience 
the  shadow  that  travels  around  the  old  dial,  now  as 
then,  and  as  young  girls  will  do  forever — until  it 
measures  their  meridian  of  womanhood  and  freedom, 
the  prime  meridian  of  all  times  and  places,  be  it  in  1727 
or  1895,  in  Ursuline  convent  or  elsewhere  for  all  young 
girls. 

In  the  Archbishopric,  the  Ursuline  Convent  has 
been  respected.  Nothing  is  changed  in  its  aspect, 
interior  or  exterior,  none  but  the  necessary  repairs 
commanded  by  time,  permitted.  In  the  convent  chapel 
adjoining,  behind  the  archbishop's  chair,  are  enshrined 
the  hearts  of  several  bishops  of  New  Orleans. 


CHAPTER   V. 

rMHE  revolt  of  the  Natchez  Indians  against  the 
-•-  tyranny  and  oppression  of  the  French  officers,  and 
their  massacre  of  the  garrison  and  settlement,  threw 
the  colony  into  the  hitherto  unexperienced  troubles  of 
an  Indian  war.  The  Indians  in  the  upper  Mississippi 
country  became  openly  hostile,  those  on  the  lower  banks 
covertly  so.  Travel  on  the  river  changed,  from  its  old 
time  loitering  picnic  pleasure  to  a  series  of  hairbreadth 
escapes  from  one  ambush  after  another.  Every  white 
settlement  in  the  colony  trembled  and  shook  with  fear, 
and  each  plantation  became  the  centre  of  secret  panic, 
for,  to  the  horrors  of  Indian  attacks,  were  added  the 
horror  of  an  African  rebellion,  and  the  union  of  the 
two  barbarous  nations  against  the  whites,  incomparably 
their  inferiors  in  number.  Planters,  with  their  fami- 
lies, abandoned  their  homes  and  rushed  for  protection 
to  New  Orleans,  which  itself  lived  in  a  continual  state 
of  alarm.  One  day  a  woman  who  had  taken  too  much 
tafia  came  running  in  from  the  Bayou  St.  John,  scream- 
ing that  the  Indians  were  raiding  the  Bayou,  and  had 
massacred  all  the  settlers,  men,  women,  and  children, 
there,  and  were  in  full  pursuit  of  her.  Drums  beat  the 


76  NEW  ORLEANS. 

general  alarm,  men  flew  to  arms  and  gathered  in  the 
public  square,  where  powder  and  balls  were  distributed 
to  them.  The  women  took  refuge  in  the  churches  and 
in  the  vessels  anchored  in  the  river.  All  was  wild  fear 
for  two  hours,  when  the  alarm  was  found  to  be  ground- 
less. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  alternative  for  French  author- 
ity, but  its  assertion  by  a  bloody  supremacy.  In  such 
assertions  the  civilized  races,  inflamed  by  their  fears, 
are  no  better  than  savage  ones  under  the  passion  for 
vengeance. 

Perier  had  an  easy  opportunity  at  hand,  and  New 
Orleans  received  its  first  stigma  of  blood.  Just  above 
the  city  lived  an  insignificant  group  of  Chouachas  Indi- 
ans, who  had  endeared  themselves  to  the  citizens  by 
their  friendly  offices  of  all  kinds.  Perier,  a  newcomer 
and  a  Frenchman,  and  in  so  far,  it  is  hoped,  an  alien  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  community,  inaugurated  his  campaign 
against  the  Natchez  by  killing  forever  any  possible  hope 
the  Indians  might  have  had  of  a  confederacy  with  the 
negroes.  He  armed  the  slaves  of  the  neighbouring  plan- 
tations, and,  promising  them  the  reward  of  freedom,  he 
secured  as  barbarous  an  extermination  of  the  unsuspect- 
ing red  men  as  the  latter  could  ever  have  inflicted 
upon  their  foes.  And  soon  after,  a  war  party  having 
made  a  capture  of  four  men  and  two  women  of  the 
Natchez,  Perier  had  them  publicly  burned  on  the  levee 
in  front  of  the  city.  Soldiers  from  all  parts  of  the  col- 
ony were  summoned  to  the  capital,  and  an  army  was 
sent  against  the  Natchez.  They,  however,  made  their 
escape  across  the  Mississippi,  and  put  themselves  out  of 
reach  of  pursuit. 

When   the    reinforcements   demanded   from    France 


NEW  ORLEANS.  77 

arrived,  Perier,  with  another  mustering  of  colonial 
troops,  embarked  them  in  barges  and  pirogues  and  led 
them  up  the  Mississippi  and  through  Red  River,  until 
he  came  to  the  country  which  held  the  Natchez  strong- 
hold. But  again  the  savages  proved  too  wily  for  the 
white  men,  the  bulk  of  them  making  their  escape  and 
seeking  refuge  with  the  powerful  tribe  of  Chickasaws. 
Perier  returned  with  but  forty  prisoners,  whom  he  sold 
into  slavery  in  St.  Domingo. 

It  was  the  depressing  effect  of  these  Indian  troubles 
that  had  forced  the  Company  of  the  West  to  remit  its 
charter  to  the  king ;  and  it  was  his  old  prestige  in 
governing  the  Indians  that  gained  Bienville  his  rein- 
statement as  governor  of  Louisiana.  The  first  efforts 
of  his  administration  were  therefore  directed  to  punish- 
ing the  Chickasaws  for  receiving  the  Natchez,  and  forc- 
ing them  to  give  up  the  refugees.  His  warlike  plans 
turned  New  Orleans  into  a  camp  for  seven  years.  Del- 
egations of  Indians,  volunteers,  Acadians,  hunters  from 
Missouri,  coureurs  de  bois  from  all  regions,  and  French 
soldiers,  bombardiers,  cannoneers,  sappers,  miners,  such 
as  had  never  been  seen  in  the  colony  before  —  swarmed 
in  the  streets ;  and  Perier's  embarkation  was  puny  and 
trifling  in  comparison  to  the  two  expeditions  which 
Bienville  led  away  from  the  levee  in  front  of  the  Place 
d'Armes. 

But  the  Canadian  seemed  to  have  lost  his  old  cun- 
ning against  the  Indians,  and  he  was  no  commander  of 
French  troops.  His  first  expedition  met  with  unmiti- 
gated disaster,  the  second  with  almost  as  mortifying 
a  failure.  lie  returned  to  the  city  with  only  a  humili- 
ating treaty  to  show  for  all  the  brave  preparations. 
Discouragement  sapped  from  his  heart  all  the  old 


78 


NEW   ORLEANS. 


optimistic  nerve  that  had  erstwhile  vivified  his  devo- 
tion to  the  colony  —  his  colony,  as  he  had  some  reason 
to  consider  it.  Far  from  his  maintaining  as  of  yore  his 
right  and  his  sufficiency  to  the  position  of  best  man 
for  it,  in  its  misfortunes  or  in  its  prosperity,  he  now 
tendered  to  the  government  his  resignation.  It  was 
accepted,  and  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil  was  appointed 
in  his  place. 

One  of  the  last  acts  of  Bienville  was  to  found  a  charity 


hospital,  from  a  legacy  left  by  a  humble  sailor  in  1739 
for  that  purpose ;  it  was  situated  on  Rampart  street, 
between  St.  Louis  and  Toulouse  streets. 

With  Bienville's  departure  closed  the  childhood  of 
the  city.  The  old  glad  pioneer  days  of  the  young 
Canadian  government,  with  its  boisterous,  irrepressible 
officers,  and  their  frolics  and  quips  and  cranks  and 
larking  adventures,  and  irreverent  bouts  with  their 
spiritual  directors,  their  processions,  demonstrations 


NEW  ORLEANS.  79 

and  ceremonies  —  it  all  passed  away  like  a  hearty 
laugh.  The  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil  brought  with  him 
the  aristocratic  exigencies  of  his  title,  the  sedate  state 
of  the  middle-aged,  and  the  cultured  polish  of  conti- 
nental etiquette.  The  new  influx  of  French  and  Swiss 
officers,  fresh  from  the  centres  of  fashion  and  politeness, 
more  than  overmatched,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
society  of  the  capital  at  least,  the  virile  virtues  of  the 
first  settlers.  "Who  says  officer,  says  everything," 
was  the  growling  comment  of  the  old  inhabitants.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  the  women  of  the  city  were  the 
first  and  most  enthusiastic  converts  to  the  higher  stand- 
ard of  the  newer  and  more  fascinating  gay  world  ;  and 
after  a  century  of  death,  tradition  through  the  old 
ladies  of  to-day  still  tells  of  the  grandeur  and  elegance 
displayed  by  the  Marquis,  —  his  little  Versailles  of  a  hotel, 
his  gracious  presence,  refined  manners,  polite  speech, 
beautiful  balls,  with  court  dress  de  rigueur,  dashing 
'  officers,  well-uniformed  soldiers.  Even  the  old  negresses 
—  but  they  are  always  the  rarest  of  connoisseurs  about 
the  standard  of  manners  for  white  ladies  and  gentle- 
men—  have  trumpeted,  from  generation  to  generation, 
the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil  as  a  model  to  be  admired  by 
all,  and  a  test  to  be  applied  to  individual  social  suspects. 
It  was  during  this  administration  that  occurred  the 
episode  that  inspired  Louisiana's  first  dramatic  effort: 
"  The  Indian  Father,"  acted  in  the  governor's  mansion 
in  1753.  Afterwards  it  was  put  into  verse  by  a  French 
officer,  Le  Blanc  de  Villeneuve,  and  was  performed  at 
the  Orleans  theatre.  A  Colapissa  Indian  killed  a  Choc- 
taw,  and  fled  to  New  Orleans.  The  relatives  of  the 
Choctaw  came  to  the  city  and  demanded  the  murderer. 
The  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  after  trying  in  vain  to  pacify 


80  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  Choctaws,  ordered  the  arrest  of  the  Colapissa,  but 
he  made  his  escape.  The  father  of  the  Colapissa  then 
came  to  the  Choctaws  and  offered  his  life  in  atonement 
for  the  crime  of  his  son;  it  was  accepted.  The  old 
man  stretched  himself  instantly  on  the  trunk  of  a  fallen 
tree,  and  a  Choctaw  chief  at  one  stroke  cut  his  head 
from  his  body. 

Dumont  relates  another  incident  of  the  period,  which 
also,  it  would  seem,  might  find  fitting  commemoration 
in  verse.  The  colony  was  without  an  executioner,  and 
no  white  man  could  be  found  who  was  willing  to  accept 
the  office.  As  every  well-regulated  government  must 
have  an  official  executioner,  it  was  decided  finally  by 
the  council  to  force  it  upon  a  negro  blacksmith  re- 
nowned for  his  nerve  and  strength,  named  Jeannot, 
belonging  to  the  Company  of  the  Indies.  He  was 
summoned  and  told  that  he  was  to  be  appointed  execu- 
tioner and  made  a  free  man  at  the  same  time.  The 
stalwart  black  giant  started  back  in  anguish  and  horror. 
"  What !  cut  off  the  heads  of  people  who  have  never 
done  me  any  harm  ? "  He  prayed,  he  wept ;  but  saw 
at  last  that  there  was  no  escape  for  him,  that  his 
masters  were  inflexible.  "  Very  well,"  he  said,  rising 
from  his  knees,  "only  wait  a  moment."  He  ran  to  his 
cabin,  seized  a  hatchet  with  his  left  hand,  laid  his  right 
on  a  block  of  wood  and  cut  it  off.  Returning,  without 
a  word  lie  exhibited  his  bloody  stump  to  the  gentlemen 
of  the  council.  With  one  cry,  it  is  said,  they  sprang 
to  his  relief,  and  his  freedom  was  given  him. 

De  Vaudreuil  being  promoted  to  the  governorship 
of  Canada,  M.  De  Kerlerec  was  appointed  to  succeed 
him  in  Louisiana. 

De   Kerlerec  was  an  officer  of  the  Marine,  a  gruff, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  81 

bluff  old  salt,  who,  carrying  on  an  unceasing  war  with 
his  subordinates,  organized  their  enmity  against  him- 
self so  well  that  after  ten  years  they  succeeded  in  hav- 
ing him  recalled  to  France,  and  promptly  lodged  in  the 
Bastile  on  his  arrival  in  Paris. 

His  administration  covered  the  period  of  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  when  French  and  English  fought  hand  to 
hand  for  the  possession  of  Canada.  Although  far 
removed  from  the  seat  of  hostilities,  New  Orleans,  as 
a  French  possession,  suffered  her  share  of  incidental 
damages.  The  English  fleet  patrolled  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  over  which  English  privateers 
swarmed,  intercepting  and  capturing  the  convoys  of 
supplies  from  France,  and  completely  destroying  her, 
commerce ;  and  France  could  neither  renew  the  sup- 
plies nor  protect  her  commerce. 

Curtailed  in  means,  Kerlerec  was  forced  to  suspend 
his  yearly  tribute  of  presents  to  the  various  important 
Indian  tribes  between  him  and  the  British  possessions. 
The  venal,  discontented  savages  immediately  abandoned 
him  and  turned  to  trading  and  treating  with  the  Eng- 
lish. Means  failed,  also,  to  pay  the  royal  troops ;  and 
the  soldiers,  disgusted  with  a  service  in  which  there 
was  no  money,  no  food,  and  no  clothing,  began  also  to 
desert  in  large  numbers  to  the  English. 

Kerlerec  stoutly  did  what  he  could  to  put  the  colony 
in  the  best  state  of  defence  possible  with  his  inadequate 
resources.  A  ditch  was  dug  and  a  palisaded  embank- 
ment erected  all  around  the  city,  the  batteries  at  English 
Turn  were  repaired.  The  main  reliance,  however,  in 
case  of  fighting,  was  not  upon  the  French  troops,  but 
upon  the  Swiss  mercenaries,  who  were  stationed  in  all 
the  important  posts.  These  were  held  firm  amid  the 


82  NEW   ORLEANS. 

general  demoralization  and  defection  of  the  French 
soldiery,  by  a  pitiless  application  of  military  discipline ; 
one  of  the  judicial. tragedies  of  the  city. 

A  detachment  of  Swiss  was  quartered  at  Ship  Island, 
which  was  under  the  command  of  a  Frenchman, 
Duroux.  The  island  is  a  mere  dot  of  Avhite  sand  in  the 
Gulf,  a  veritable  pearl,  which  at  a  distance  dances  and 
plays  in  the  gay  blue  water.  It  seems  totally  inade- 
quate to  the  amount  of  human  suffering  which  has  been 
experienced  upon  it,  in  later  times  as  a  military  prison 
of  most  cruel  hardships,  and  then  as  the  scene  and 
opportunity  for  the  brutality  of  Duroux.  The  isolated 
spot  was  his  kingdom,  and  he  used  his  soldiers  as  if  no 
one  before  him  had  fittingly  illustrated  the  meaning  of 
"  tyrant."  He  sold  their  rations  and  gave  them  for  food 
only  what  they  could  gather  from  the  wreckage  of  the 
Gulf.  Instead  of  performing  their  military  duties,  they 
were  forced  to  till  his  garden,  cut  timber  for  him,  and 
burn  the  charcoal  and  lime  out  of  which  he  drove  a  profit- 
able private  trade.  His  exactions  of  work  would  have 
been  considered  beyond  human  endurance,  had  he  not  hit 
upon  a  form  of  punishment  which  experience  proved  to 
be  clearly  so.  He  simply  stripped  his  criminals  naked, 
and  tied  them  to  trees ;  and  the  mosquitoes,  those 
voracious  mosquitoes  of  the  Gulf,  accomplished  the 
rest.  In  desperation,  some  of  the  soldiers  ran  away  to 
the  capital,  carrying  their  complaints  to  the  governor, 
and  a  piece  of  the  bread  they  were  given  to  eat.  Ker- 
lerec,  a  naval  martinet,  sent  them  immediately  back  to 
Ship  Island.  Then  the  Swiss  took  the  case  in  their 
own  hands,  and  had  recourse  to  the  time  and  world- 
renowned  measures  of  the  over-burdened. 

One  day,  as  Duroiix's  boat  neared  the  strand,  after  a 


NEW  ORLEANS.  83 

hunting  expedition,  the  drums  beat  the  salute,  the  banner 
of  France  was  raised,  and  the  guard  filed  out  in  arms. 
But,  as  the  hated  commandant  put  his  foot  on  land,  the 
corporal  gave  command,  and  the  tyrant  fell,  pierced,  it 
is  safe  to  say,  with  a  bullet  from  each  musket.  His 
body  was  thrown  into  the  Gulf.  The  prisoners,  of 
Avhom  Duroux  kept  a  constant  supply  in  irons,  were 
released  ;  and  one  of  them,  a  sea  captain,  was  forced  to 
pilot  the  rebels  to  the  English  possessions.  Arrived  at 
a  safe  distance,  they  sent  him  back  with  a  certificate 
that  he  had  aided  them  only  under  compulsion.  The 
party  separated  ;  one  band  reached  the  English  in 
safety  ;  the  other  was  captured,  one  man  stabbing  him- 
self to  the  heart  to  avoid  arrest.  They  were  sent  to 
New  Orleans.  A  court-martial  was  held  by  the  officers 
of  the  Swiss  regiment ;  the  men  were  condemned,  and, 
according  to  their  regulations,  were  nailed  alive  in  their 
coffins,  and  sawed  in  two.  The  ghastly  execution  of 
the  order  took  place  in  the  barracks  yard.  The  man 
who  had  served  as  guide  was  broken  on  the  wheel  at 
the  same  time  and  in  the  same  place. 

An  interesting  event  connects  the  first  clashing  of 
arms  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  with  New  Orleans. 
This  was  when  George  Washington,  a  colonel  in  the 
British  army,  was  sent  by  the  governor  of  Virginia 
against  Fort  Duquesne.  On  the  march  he  heard  of  a 
French  detachment  coming  to  surprise  him.  He  sur- 
prised it,  and  in  the  engagement,  Jumonville,  the  ensign 
in  command,  was  killed.  Jumonville  de  Villiers,  his 
brother  (ancestor  of  the  New  Orleans  family)  obtained 
from  Iverlerec  the  permission  to  go  and  avenge  the 
death.  With  a  band  of  soldiers  and  Indians  he  hast- 
ened to  the  scene  of  the  engagement,  and  found  Wash 


84 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


ington  entrenched  in  Fort  Necessity.  He  attacked 
him,  and  forced  the  future  Father  of  his  Country  to 
surrender  to  him.  Later,  there  came  down  the  river 
the  boats  bearing  the  garrison  and  officers  of  Fort 
Duquesne,  who,  after  a  gallant  resistance,  were  forced 
to  abandon  their  post.  And  later,  down  the  great 
artery  of  the  continent,  came  from  time  to  time  other 


"  Tignon  Creole.'' 


driftlngs  of  the  French  wreckage  going  on  in  the  North, 
— weary,  heart -broken  bands  of  Acadian  pilgrims. 

Finally,  in  1763,  France  was  forced  to  sign  the 
Treaty  of  Paris,  which  left  in  England's  grasp  all  of 
her  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Island  of  Orleans,  as  it  was  called,  that 
irregular  fragment  of  land  lying  between  Manchac  or 
Bayou  Iberville  and  the  lakes,  which  belongs,  as  natu- 
ral appanage,  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  This  same 
year  Kerlerec  was  recalled  to  France,  and  M.  d'Abadie 


NEW  ORLEANS.  85 

arrived  with  the  diminished  title  of  director-general, 
to  suit  the  diminished  area  of  his  government.  The 
military  force,  reduced  to  three  hundred  men,  was  put 
under  command  of  Aubry,  senior  ranking  captain. 

English  vessels  were  soon  a  familiar  sight  sailing  up 
and  down  the  river,  to  and  from  their  new  possessions, 
above  Manchac,  from  which  the  French  inhabitants 
moved  with  their  slaves,  inside  the  French  lines,  many 
of  them  to  the  capital.  The  Indians  loyal  to  France 
followed  them,  occupying  lands  assigned  to  them  by  the 
government  about  the  city  and  on  the  lakes. 

The  increase  of  wealth  and  population,  and  concen- 
tration of  vitality  in  the  city,  produced  there  a  sudden 
revival  of  activity  of  all  kinds.  New  houses  sprang  up 
to  answer  the  increased  demand,  new  shopy  and  maga- 
zines were  opened  along  the  levee,  and  coffee  houses 
blossomed  out  from  street  corners.  Deprived  for  so 
long  a  time  of  so  many  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  the 
colonists,  when  occasion  at  last  gratified  them,  could 
not  content  themselves  with  anything  less  than  the 
luxuries  of  it.  The  English  shrewdly  profited  by  this 
epidemic  of  extravagance,  and  took  advantage  of  the 
crippled  condition  to  which  they  had  reduced  French 
commerce.  Many  of  the  vessels  going  up  the  river, 
ostensibly  to  carry  supplies  to  the  English  possessions, 
were  in  reality  floating  shops,  well  supplied  with  goods 
of  all  kinds,  and  furnished  inside  with  the  regulation 
counters,  shelves,  and  clerks.  They  stopped  at  a  hail, 
and  soon  acquired  the  trade  of  the  entire  French  coast, 
a  trade  which  was  all  the  more  thriving  as  it  was  illicit. 
For  the  convenience  of  New  Orleans  customers,  these 
contraband  boats  used  to  tie  up  at  a  tree  on  the  river 
bank  a  short  distance  above  the  city.  As  Manchac  was 


86  NEW  OELEANS. 

their  first  lawful  landing-place,  this  place  was  wittily 
dubbed  "little  Manchac,"  and  "going  to  little  Man- 
chac  "  was  long  the  current  expression  in  the  city  for 
shopping  excursions  to  contraband  centres. 

Now  must  be  told  that  religious  scandal  of  the  time, 
the  war  between  the  Jesuits  and  Capuchins.  For  the 
elements  of  this  famous  feud  one  must  go  back,  if  not 
to  the  beginning  of  human  nature,  at  least  to  the  period 
when  the  bishop  of  Quebec,  the  spiritual  head  of  Loui- 
siana, appointed  a  Jesuit  as  his  vicar-general. 

The  Capuchins  claimed  the  territory  by  right  of  a 
contract  with  the  India  Company,  and  therefore  opposed 
the  exercise  of  any  spiritual  functions  by  their  rivals. 
In  every  bout  with  their  burly,  physically  superior, 
antagonists,  the  Jesuits  came  off  victorious.  During 
Kerlerec's  administration  the  campaign  had  been 
unusually  sharp  and  brilliant.  A  new  instrument  of 
warfare  —  an  instrument  of  polite  warfare  —  had  been 
imported,  the  manipulation  of  which  became  a  furore 
with  the  partisan  citizens.  Epigrams,  pasquinades, 
squibs,  lampoons,  burlesques,  satirical  songs,  were 
posted  on  the  corners  of  every  thoroughfare,  and  the 
latter  were  sung  in  the  coffee-houses.  There  seemed 
to  be  no  end  to  the  pleasing  variety  and  abundance  of 
the  wit  displayed  by  the  citizens,  who  must  have 
enjoyed  the  occasion  as  one  of  real  literary  culture  ; 
and  it  may  be  here  mentioned  that  they  became  in 
course  of  time  so  addicted  to  this  mode  of  expressing 
not  only  religious,  but  political  and  even  personal  ani- 
mosities, and  became  such  biting  adepts  at  it,  provok- 
ing such  postscripta  of  duels,  that  in  the  end  it  was 
forbidden  by  law. 

The    superior    council,    although    invoked   by    both 


NEW  ORLEANS.  81 

parties,  wisely  forbore  deciding  in  favour  of  either, 
as  much  in  fear  of  the  arrogance  of  the  victorious,  as 
of  the  hostility  of  the  defeated  side  ;  but  they  patched 
up  a  truce,  only  a  seeming,  and,  as  it  turned  out,  an  in- 
sidious one.  Father  Hilaire  de  Ge*novaux,  the  superior 
of  the  Capuchins,  although  a  priest,  was  by  nature  a 
warrior,  to  whom  defeat  meant  anything  but  a  discipline 
for  the  promotion  of  patience  and  resignation.  He,  one 
day,  left  his  convent  and  the  city  and  departed  for 
Europe,  saying  naught  to  any  one  of  his  intentions  or 
purposes.  He  returned  in  the  same  effective  manner, 
but  bearing  the  high-sounding  title  and  office  of  apos- 
tolic protonotary,  which  completely  outranked  the 
vicar-general  of  the  bishop  of  Quebec.  The  surprise 
of  the  Jesuits  was  complete ;  so  was  their  wrath,  and 
the  quarrel  flamed  on  with  more  brilliancy  than  ever. 

But  neither  the  wit  of  the  partisans  of  the  Jesuits, 
nor  the  sharpness  of  the  superior  of  the  Capuchins, 
brought  this  memorable  campaign  to  a  close.  Louisi- 
ana had  to  swing  with  the  great  pendulum  of  the  mother 
country.  The  Jesuits  were  expelled  from  Bourbon 
Europe,  they  must  be  expelled  from  Bourbon  America. 
A  decree  to  that  effect  was  sent  to  New  Orleans.  It 
is  true  that  Louisiana  owed  to  the  Jesuit  fathers  an 
irredeemable  debt  of  gratitude.  They  had  been  the 
first  missionaries  in  the  colony,  and  her  constant  friends 
at  court  and  in  high  places.  It  was  they  who  had  ob- 
tained the  establishment  of  the  Ursulines,  and  it  was 
they  who  made  the  first  agricultural  experiments  ;  do- 
mesticating fruits,  vegetables,  indigo,  and  sugar  cane 
in  the  soil.  Nevertheless  the  decree  to  expel  them  was 
final,  and  it  was  enforced.  All  their  property,  includ- 
ing their  fine  plantation,  was  sold  at  auction,  and  they 


88 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


were  made  to  leave.  The  Ursuline  sisters  were  broken 
hearted  at  the  loss  of  their  friends  and  directors,  and 
the  ladies  of  the  city  would  not  so  much  as  tolerate  the 
idea  of  a  Capuchin  confessor,  and  the  exaltation  of 
female  martyrdom  was  in  the  air.  Although,  in  a  way, 
the  difficulty  had  been  solved,  its  settlement  seemed 
further  away  than  ever. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

fT^HE  deus  ex  machina  of  Louisiana  had  always  been 
-•-  the  prime  minister  of  France.  The  Due  de  Choi- 
seul  now  filled  that  office. 

Louis  XV.  neither  reigned  nor  governed  ;  it  was  La 
Pompadour  who  reigned  and  governed  for  him.  We 
read  of  the  monarch,  sitting  like  some  Dantesque  hero 
of  the  Inferno,  in  the  secret  regions  of  his  gorgeous 
palaces,  with  the  never-ceasing  curse  upon  him  of  en- 
deavouring to  satisfy  the  appetite  of  the  monster  of  his 
own  desires.  Not  Hogarth  himself  has  better  traced 
for  us  the  road  to  ruin,  the  royal  road  to  ruin,  than  Louis 
le  bien  aime.  And  working  thus  unceasingly  to  de- 
humanize himself,  he  attracted  around  him  as  coun- 
sellors, servitors,  friends,  and  companions,  only  those 
who  made  the  process  smooth  and  easy  for  him. 

It  was  not  as  in  the  easy-going  time  of  the  witty, 
clever,  amiable,  dissipated  Regent,  when  pleasure  and 
business,  scandal  and  politics,  hustled  one  another  in 
broad  daylight,  in  the  talking,  laughing,  streets  of  Paris. 
With  Louis  XV.  it  was  all  dark,  mysterious,  under- 
ground ;  one  fears  to  advance  a  finger  in  any  direc- 

89 


90  NEW  ORLEANS. 

tion,  for  fear  of  touching  the  foul.  When  an  intrepid 
volunteer,  like  Michelet,  venturing  into  the  secret 
sewers  of  court  records,  returns  to  tell  of  it,  we  shrink 
from  him  —  he  bears  evidence  of  putrid  exhumations, 
and  we  are  nauseated. 

The  prime  minister  was  not  so  much  the  Due  de 
Choiseul,  as  his  sister,  Madame  de  Grammont,  the  man 
of  business,  as  she  was  called,  of  La  Pompadour.  She 
was  also  called  "  la  doublure,"  the  lining  of  her  brother. 
Her  ambition,  it  seems,  was  that  purely  feminine  one, 
of  repairing  the  impoverished  fortunes  of  her  family, 
and  in  this  ambition  women  can  be  inflexible,  inexor- 
able, and  unscrupulous.  The  best  of  the  patrimony  of 
the  De  Choiseuls,  was,  it  is  said,  their  capacity  for 
treason,  and  of  the  due  Michelet  writes:  "He  did  not 
go  to  war,  il  fit  la  chasse  aux  femmes."  The  same 
authority,  from  the  intimacy  of  his  knowledge  of  this 
period,  describes  the  De  Choiseul  he  knew :  "  A  little 
bull-dog  face  he  had,  ugly,  audacious,  impertinent,  with 
a  mocking  tongue,  a  deadly  weapon  feared  by  the  brav- 
est ...  vivacious,  brilliant,  keen,  penetrating,  believing 
nothing,  fearing  nothing,  an  easy  moralist,  an  uncer- 
tain ally,  a  hater  of  priests,  light  minded,  inconstant. 
First,  he  worried  La  Pompadour,  then  he  charmed  her, 
then  gave  himself  to  her."  "  You  will  be  damned, 
Choiseul,"  once  said  the  king  to  him  with  a  smile. 
"And  you,  sire?"  "I,  oh,  I  am  different;  I  am  the 
anointed  of  God." 

It  was  a  ghastly  prologue  to  our  own  little  Louisiana 
tragedy  as  we  read  it  now,  that  played  by  the  king,  the 
favourite,  and  the  prime  minister,  with  his  shadowy 
controller-general  Silhouette.  Morally,  for  France 
there  was  but  one  proportionate  drama  to  follow,  the 


NEW   ORLEANS.  91 

Revolution.  Politically,  there  was  but  one  thing  for 
France  to  lose,  "simply  the  world,"  as  Michelet  says. 
From  truckling  to  Austria,  Choiseul  turned  to  truck- 
ling to  Spain,  and  he  created  and  put  into  shape  his 
famous  Pacte  de  Famille  in  1761,  which  federated  the 
blood  of  the  Bourbon,  and  united  into  a  combined  trust 
the  thrones  of  France,  Spain,  Turin,  Naples,  and  Sicily. 
Thence  the  international  war  upon  the  Jesuits,  and 
thence  the  transfer  of  Louisiana  to  Spain  by  a  secret 
clause  in  the  Treaty  of  Paris.  The  clause  remained  a 
secret  until  October,  1764,  when  M.  d'Abadie  received 
official  notice  of  it,  with  the  copies  of  the  acts  of  dona- 
tion and  acceptance,  and  instructions  to  hand  the  col- 
ony over  to  the  envoy  of  the  king  of  Spain,  who  was 
to  arrive. 

Upon  publication  of  the  fact  in  the  city,  the 
inhabitants  were  transfixed  with  consternation.  This 
was  an  old  world  and  a  middle-age  eventuality,  the 
giving  away  of  a  country,  with  its  people,  to  a  for- 
eign master,  as  a  planter  might  hand  over  his  land  and 
slaves  to  a  purchaser  —  that  had  never  occurred  to  the 
Louisianians.  They  had  no  need  of  recourse  to  tradi- 
tion to  animate  their  feelings.  Men  were  still  alive 
among  them  who  had  taken  possession  of  the  country 
in  its  wild  state  of  nature,  Avho  had  founded  it,  estab- 
lished it,  and  held  it  firm  to  France,  with  but  little  help 
or  encouragement,  too,  from  the  mother  country, 
against  both  Englishman  and  Spaniard.  Nay  more, 
they  had  dominated  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  itself,  and  had 
France  but  held  out  a  finger  to  them,  even  surrepti- 
tiously, they  were  prepared  to  prove  at  any  dinner-table 
or  coffee-house  in  the  city,  that  Iberville  and  Bienville, 
Chateauguay,  De  Serigny,  and  themselves,  could  have 


92 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


solidified  Central  America,  and  the  islands  of  the  Carib- 
bean Sea,  into  an  indestructible  French  power.  Rude 
fighters  themselves,  and  accustomed  to  rude  stakes, 
they  could  have  understood  the  cession  to  England  — 
that  would  have  been  according  to  the  fortunes  of  war. 
England  had  whipped  in  the  contest  for  supremacy, 


""^T'V"'  '^^^^^Z^^rJS1^- 


and  Frenchmen  of  Louisiana,  as  well  as  Frenchmen  of 
Canada,  must  stand  to  the  terms  of  defeat.  But  to  be 
tossed  without  the  asking,  from  Louis  XV.  to  Carlos 
III.,  to  l>e  made  over,  in  secret  bargain,  to  the  Span- 
iards,—  to  the  not  so  much  hated  as  despised  Spaniard, 
who  had  never  ventured  a  blow  or  fired  a  shot  for  them, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  93 

whom  they  had  overmatched  Avith  half  their  wits  and  half 
their  strength,  in  every  contest !  That  was  a  fate  that 
no  Louisianian  was  craven  enough  to  be  resigned  to  ! 

Cities  act  like  individuals  in  a  crisis.  Stupor  fol- 
lowed the  shock  in  New  Orleans,  and  excitement 
followed  the  stupor,  mounting  quickly  into  temper, 
fury.  The  streets  hummed  and  throbbed  with  it. 
The  cabarets  exploded  with  indignant  denunciatory 
eloquence.  The  king  could  not  mean  it !  The  king 
did  not  know  what  he  was  doing  !  He  was  ignorant  of 
the  true  facts  of  the  case  !  He  had  no  idea  of  Louisi- 
ana or  the  Louisianians  !  He  must  be  informed,  expos- 
tulated with,  petitioned.  The  citizens,  the  colonists, 
must  speak ;  they  must  express  their  sentiments,  the 
will  of  the  people  must  be  evoked !  The  will  of  the 
people  !  The  word  was  out,  and  the  idea  !  The  word 
and  the  idea  that  were  to  be  made  flesh  a  decade  hence 
in  the  revolted  American  colonies. 

A  convention  was  called  to  meet  in  New  Orleans,  and 
each  parish  in  the  state  was  requested  to  send  delegates. 
Every  parish  responded  with  its  best  and  most  notable; 
the  city  did  likewise.  A  large  and  impressive  assembly 
met.  It  was  opened  by  Lafre*niere,  the  attorney-gen- 
eral, than  whom  no  man  could  with  better  credentials 
represent  the  colony  in  spirit  and  in  letter.  His  father 
was  one  of  four  Canadian  brothers,  pioneers  under 
Iberville  and  Bienville,  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves in  every  field  of  danger  and  enterprise  offered  by 
the  rough  times  and  rough  country.  Crumbling  parch- 
ments of  marriage  contracts  and  land  sales  show  them 
to  have  acquired  wealth  and  honours  and  to  have 
formed  alliances  with  the  families  of  what,  in  feudal 
times,  would  have  been  called  Louisiana's  nobility.  The 


94  NEW  ORLEANS. 

attorney-general  was  a  man  of  winning  address  and 
fiery  eloquence,  in  character  and  acquirements  one  of 
the  best  growths  of  Louisiana  from  Canadian  seed. 
He  opened  the  convention  with  a  strong,  stirring  speech, 
proposing  the  resolution  that  the  colonists,  en  masse, 
supplicate  the  king  of  France  not  to  sever  them  from 
their  country.  It  passed  unanimously.  A  delegation 
of  three  citizens,  Jean  Milhet  at  the  head,  was  appointed 
to  carry  it  to  France  and  lay  it  at  the  foot  of  the  throne. 
They  left  by  the  first  vessel. 

Arrived  in  Paris,  the  delegation  sought  out  Bien- 
ville,  the  old  father  Bienville,  for  lie  was  still  living  in 
Paris,  an  octogenarian  now,  with  long  white  hair.  One 
has  only  imagination  to  supply  the  details  of  the  inter- 
view, the  questions,  explanations,  reading  of  the  petition, 
names  ;  what  the  Loulsiaiiians  had  to  say  of  Louisiana, 
Bienville  of  France,  Paris.  Louisiana  was  so  much 
more  the  country  of  the  white-haired  patriarch,  than  of 
the  king  or  the  duke,  or  of  any  man  or  woman  in 
France.  Surely  he  would  be  received,  listened  to. 
He  consented  to  accompany  Milhet  to  the  Due  de 
Choiseul.  Their  primitive  idea  was  to  throw  them- 
selves on  their  knees  before  the  king  and  present  the 
petition,  which  reads  to-day  more  like  the  passionate 
appeal  of  a  lover  to  his  mistress.  And  they  would  add 
their  voices  in  supplication  not  to  be  cast  off ;  they  them- 
selves would  implore  from  their  sovereign  the  proud 
satisfaction  for  the  Louisianians,  of  being  able  to  die 
as  they  had  lived,  Frenchmen,  not  Spaniards.  It  would 
indeed  have  been  a  scene  and  an  interview  worth  record- 
ing. For  the  picturesqueness  of  history  it  is  a  pity 
that  it  did  not  take  place.  De  Choiseul  listened  with 
perfect  politeness,  promised  the  interview  with  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  95 

king,  promised  his  influence  ;  promised  everything, 
like  a  modern  politician,  and  —  never  kept  his  word. 
It  was  not  that  he  paid  his  royal  master  the  compliment 
of  supposing  that  this  white-haired  pioneer,  the  son  and 
brother  of  the  best  pioneers  France  could  make  out  of 
her  flesh  and  blood  —  that  these  new  specimens,  these 
Frenchmen  from  the  new  world,  could  stir  a  memory  of 
Louisiana,  or  arouse  a  patriotic  thrill  in  that  enfeebled, 
exhausted,  diseased  heart.  But  the  Pacte  de  Famille 
was  De  Choiseul's  own  master-stroke  of  policy,  the 
cession  of  Louisiana  his  own  paraph  on  the  margin  of 
it.  The  delegation  came  again  and  again,  always  meet- 
ing politeness  and  promises.  The  others  returned  to 
the  colony,  leaving  Milhet  in  Paris.  He,  after  a  year 
of  effort,  deceived,  thwarted,  betrayed  in  every  verbal 
way  by  the  brilliant  prime  minister  —  lie  also  returned 
home  with  the  incredible  report  that  he  had  not  been 
able  to  see  the  king,  had  not  presented  the  petition. 

In  the  meantime,  in  New  Orleans,  d'Abadie  had  died 
and  Aubry  was  put  in  command  for  the  short  interval 
before  cession  to  Spain.  But  no  Spanish  envoy  pre- 
sented himself.  With  their  delegation  and  petition  at 
work  at  court,  the  optimistic  citizens  reacted  from  the 
excitement  of  dejection  and  despair,  to  buoyancy  of 
spirits.  When,  at  the  landing-place  in  front  of  the 
Place  d'Armes,  a  boat  load  of  gaunt,  haggard  Acadians 
arrived,  and  told  their  story,  how  their  country  had 
been  ceded  away,  their  churches,  their  allegiance,  how 
they  had  tried  to  live  under  foreign  masters,  but  at 
last,  under  exactions  and  suspicions,  and  despair  of  all 
kinds,  they  had  been  forcibly  ejected  from  their  fields 
and  homes,  the  citizens,  overflowing  with  hospitality, 
generosity,  and  sympathy,  drew  no  warning  from  it, 


96 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


but  rather  encouragement  of  their  own  sense  of  secur- 
ity and  self-sufficiency.  So  ill-prepared  were  they,  that 
like  a  thunder  clap  in  a  cloudless  heaven,  came  an 
official  letter  in  July,  1766,  announcing  that  the  Span- 
ish envoy,  Don  Antonio  de  Ulloa,  was  on  his  way  to 
take  possession  of  the  colony.  There  was  another  cata- 
clysm of  excitement  ;  but  as  the  envoy  did  not  make  his 


appearance,  and  Milliet  did  not  return,  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  all  again  rebounded  to  hope  and  courage. 

In  February  Ulloa  arrived  at  the  Balise  in  a  frigate 
of  twenty  cannon,  with  two  companies  of  Spanish 
infantry,  three  Spanish  Capuchins,  and  the  personnel 
of  his  administration,  a  commissary  of  war,  Loyola; 
an  intemlant,  Navarro ;  and  a  comptroller,  Gayarrd. 
He  reached  the  city  in  March.  An  ominous  storm 


NEW  ORLEANS.  97 

of  wind  and  rain  was  raging.  Aubry  did  what  he 
could  in  the  way  of  a  reception.  The  militia  and 
regular  troops  were  drawn  up  on  the  levee,  the  cannon 
fired  a  salute,  and  there  was,  stimulated  by  Aubry,  a 
faint  attempt  at  acclamation.  But  the  citizens  stood 
in  groups  to  one  side,  silent,  sullen,  and  cold  as  the  rain 
pouring  over  them. 

In  appearance  the  Spanish  envoy  was  middle-aged, 
grave,  haughty,  severe,  and  petrified  in  Spanish  eti- 
quette and  ceremony.  He  was  no  inconsiderable  per- 
sonage, but  a  man  of  repute,  both  in  the  military  and 
scientific  worlds,  and  was  just  then  returned  from  an 
expedition  in  which  he  had  formed  one  of  a  commission 
to  determine  the  configuration  of  the  earth  at  the  equa- 
tor. He  seems  to  have  approached  Louisiana  in  the 
same  cool,  calm,  critical  spirit  of  scientific  investigation, 
and  he  was  about  as  much  prepared  to  hear  that  the 
equator  had  risen  up  and  protested  against  the  results 
of  his  commission,  as  to  find  that  other  purely  theo- 
retical factor,  the  will  of  the  people  of  Louisiana,  in 
opposition  to  his  presence  and  functions.  He  expected 
the  country  to  change  its  flag  and  allegiance,  the  sol- 
diers their  service,  the  people  their  nationality,  as 
a  thing  of  the  most  commonplace  of  course.  The 
superior  council  of  the  colony  requested  him  to  show 
his  powers  and  authorities.  He  refused  curtly,  and 
sent  for  Aubry  to  confer  with  him.  When  he  learned 
that  the  French  soldiers  refused  to  enter  the  Spanish 
service,  he  agreed  that  the  formality  of  taking  posses- 
sion should  be  deferred  until  more  Spanish  troops 
were  sent  to  him,  quartering  his  own  force  in  separate 
barracks,  apart  and  distinct  from  Aubry 's.  But,  as 
if  that  formality  had  been  duly  and  legally  observed, 


98  NEW  ORLEANS. 

he  proceeded  to  the  clerical  work  of  his  office,  taking 
the  census,  issuing  new  rules  and  regulations,  and 
rendering  decrees  of  trade  and  commerce.  The  exist- 
ence of  the  civil  authorities  was  ignored,  and  Aubry  was 
made  the  official  mouthpiece  of  the  envoy  and  organ 
of  communication  with  the  people.  The  various  mili- 
tary posts  were  visited,  new  ones  established,  the  French 
flag  being  informally  replaced  by  the  Spanish.  In 
New  Orleans,  however,  the  French  colours  floated  as 
ever,  and  the  externals,  at  least,  of  French  domination 
were  not  infringed. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  country  parishes  chafed  and 
fumed.  The  citizens  of  New  Orleans  seethed  and 
boiled.  If  no  opportunity  offered,  they  must  inevita- 
bly have  created  one,  for  the  expression  of  their  feel- 
ings. But  the  opportunity  was  offered  by  Ulloa. 
Apart  from  patriotic  sentiments,  what  the  people  of 
Louisiana  most  feared  from  Spain,  was  the  imposition 
of  those  narrow-minded  trade  regulations,  framed  for 
the  Spanish  colonies,  which  would  ruin  their  commerce 
and  port  as  they  had  ruined  all  the  commerce  and 
every  port  in  the  Spanish  possessions.  Ulloa  issued 
a  decree  which  in  this  respect  realized  their  worst 
fears.  The  merchants  in  a  body  presented  a  petition 
to  the  superior  council,  praying  for  a  suspension  of 
the  decree  until  they  could  be  heard  upon  it.  The 
signatures  attached  to  the  petition  represented  the 
most  influential  names  in  the  colony.  To-day  they 
still  distinguish  the  elite  of  Creole  families.  The 
memorial  was  forwarded  to  Ulloa,  who,  in  an  official 
report,  expressed  his  opinion  of  it  as :  "  A  kind  of 
manifesto,  of  people  who  pretend  to  nothing  less  than 
to  make  terms  with  their  own  sovereign,  and  whose 


NEW  ORLEANS.  99 

expressions,  far  from  being  supplicating  and  respect- 
ful, take  on  the  imperious  and  insolent  tone  of  a 
menace."  Paying  no  heed  to  it,  he  proceeded  in 
September  to  the  Balise,  to  await  the  coming  of  his 
affianced  bride,  the  Marquise  d'Abrado,  one  of  the  rich- 
est heiresses  of  Peru,  and,  according  to  report,  beauti- 
ful even  beyond  the  usual  fortune  of  heiresses.  She 
kept  him  waiting  seven  months,  and  for  that  time  the 
Balise  became  the  centre  of  government,  Aubry  mak- 
ing periodical  visits  to  it.  During  one  of  these  he 
signed  a  secret  act  putting  Ulloa  in  possession  of  the 
colony,  and  authorizing  him  to  substitute  the  Spanish 
flag  for  the  French  whenever  he  wished. 

Relieved  from  the  hated  presence  of  the  Spaniard, 
the  citizens  had  a  breathing  spell,  and  strange  to  say, 
began  to  hope  again  that  the  mother  country  had  re- 
considered her  act  or  would  do  so.  Ulloa  returned 
with  his  bride,  married  to  him  by  private  ceremony  at 
the  Balise.  There  had  been  some  social  expectations 
entertained  from  the  advent  of  the  Marquise  in  the  city. 
She,  however,  immured  herself  in  her  hotel,  associated 
only  with  her  own  attendants,  repulsed  all  advances  from 
society,  shunned  the  Creole  ladies  publicly,  ignored  them 
privately,  and  would  not  even  worship  in  a  common 
church  with  them,  attending  mass  only  in  her  private 
chapel.  In  short,  she  proved  herself,  in  her  treatment  of 
the  ladies  of  the  place,  only  too  apt  an  imitator  of  her 
husband's  hauteur  and  arrogance  with  the  men,  and  so 
added  the  last  straw  to  the  burden  of  the  intolerable. 

Milhet  arrived  at  last  !  He  gave  an  account  of  his 
humiliating  failure.  Popular  disappointment  and  cha- 
grin flamed  into  a  fury  of  passion,  which  swept  discre- 
tion and  judgment  before  it.  There  was  to  be  heard 


100  NEW  ORLEANS. 

in  the  streets  nothing  but  loud  voicings  of  the  hatred  of 
Spain  and  the  loathing  of  the  yoke  about  to  be  put  upon 
them.  Calm  was  completely  destroyed  from  one  end  of 
the.  colony  to  the  other  ;  the  wildest  excitement  pre- 
vailed, meetings  were  held  everywhere,  in  which  heated 
addresses  inflamed  still  more  the  violence  of  feeling.  As 
in  every  other  revolution,  a  woman  furnishes  the  nucleus 
of  action.  In  the  upper  outskirts  of  the  city  about  where 
Common  and  Carondelet  streets  cross  to-day,  was  the 
elegant  villa  and  spacious  gardens  of  Madame  Pradel, 
a  widow,  beautiful,  rich,  and  intellectual.  She  was 
attached,  it  was  whispered,  in  a  secret  love  to  Foucaut, 
the  royal  commissary,  one  of  the  most  ardent  of  the 
revolutionists.  The  establishment  had  all  the  privacy 
of  isolation  and  seclusion,  and  was  a  most  charming 
gathering  spot  for  the  leaders  of  the  people,  Lafreniere, 
the  two  Noyans,  De  Villere*,  Masan,  Marquis,  Foucaut, 
and  others.  After  a  luxurious  supper,  they  would  leave 
their  hostess  and  retire  to  the  garden,  and  there,  in  the 
fragrant  obscurity  of  the  magnolia  groves,  discuss  the 
situation,  and  prepare,  point  by  point,  the  policy  to  be 
adopted.  Their  first  move  was  to  invite  the  country 
again  to  send  delegates  to  another  grand  meeting  to  be 
held  in  the  capital. 

This  second  assembly  was  in  all  respects  the  same  as 
the  first.  As  before,  Lafreniere  took  the  lead,  or  had 
it  assigned  to  him.  He  made  a  speech  with  his  charac- 
teristic power  and  eloquence,  and  was  ably  seconded  by 
the  delegate  Milhet  and  his  brother,  and  by  Doucet,  a 
young  lawyer  recently  arrived  from  France.  The  pro- 
ceedings culminated  in  an  address  to  the  superior  coun- 
cil calling  upon  it  to  declare  Ulloa  an  usurper  for  having 
exercised  authority  without  exhibiting  his  powers  to 


NEW  ORLEANS.  103 

the  superior  council,  registering  them,  or  otherwise 
promulgating  them  in  a  public  manner,  and,  as  such, 
ordering  him  out  of  the  colony.  The  paper  was  signed 
by  over  five  hundred  names.  It  was  printed  by  the 
public  printer,  on  the  order  of  Foucaut,  and  distributed 
throughout  the  parishes.  The  superior  council  took 
it  under  consideration,  and  ended  in  rendering  the  de- 
cree prayed  for,  ordering  Ulloa  to  produce  his  authori- 
ties before  the  civil  tribunal  of  the  colony,  or  to  take 
his  departure  from  it,  within  a  month.  To  such  a  man, 
and  to  such  a  dignitary,  there  was  no  alternative ;  he 
prepared  for  the  immediate  departure  of  himself  and 
household. 

Aubry,  whose  ideas  of  independence  lay  strictly 
within  the  limits  of  military  subordination,  did  what 
he  could  at  first  to  prevent,  then  to  mitigate,  what  he 
considered  an  outrageous  breach  of  discipline.  He 
expostulated  with  the  citizens,  enlightened  them  about 
the  inviolate  majesty  of  kings,  warned  them  of  retrib- 
utive consequences.  In  vain.  The  citizens  would 
not,  or  could  not,  understand  him.  To  all  of  his  rep- 
resentations they  had  a  legal  answer,  and  they  stood 
firm  in  their  position,  their  feet  planted  on  their  incon- 
testable theory  of  the  supremacy  in  the  colony  of  the 
civil  tribunal.  Aubry  then  did  what  he  could  to  throw 
a  semblance  of  dignity  around  the  expulsion.  At  the 
head  of  his  soldiers  he  escorted  Ulloa  and  his  house- 
hold to  the  levee,  saluted  his  embarkation,  and  stationed 
sentries  to  guard  his  ship. 

That  night  there  was  a  wedding  feast  in  one  of  the 
wealthiest  houses  of  the  city.  Banqueting  and  dancing 
had  filled  the  hours  and  prolonged  the  revels,  and  day 
was  about  to  break  before  the  last  of  the  guests  stepped 


104  NEW  ORLEANS. 

into  the  street ;  a  noisy  band  of  merry  youths;  — frolick- 
ing, singing,  laughing,  as  they  passed  along  by  the 
silent  houses.  They  came  to  the  levee.  In  the  silver 
light  of  dawn,  the  river  lay  veiled  in  mist,  out  of  which, 
grim  and  ugly  and  forbidding,  arose  the  frigate  con- 
taining the  Spaniard  and  his  people. 

"See,"  cried  one,  "the  morning  star  !  It  heralds  the 
last  day  of  the  Spaniard's  rule."  The  band  stopped  and 
looked.  The  temptation  was  irresistible  to  young  mad- 
heads.  The  cables  of  the  frigate  were  stealthily  cut. 
After  one  thrilling  moment,  the  great  bulk  began  to 
move,  yield  to  the  current,  which,  as  if  the  Mississippi 
too  were  French  and  factional,  stronger  and  stronger 
urged  its  way,  until  it  bore  the  vessel  out  to  midstream, 
and  started  it  triumphantly  down  the  river.  Then  the 
watching  crowd  threw  caps  in  air,  and  broke  into  wild 
huzzas.  The  victory  seemed  brilliant,  the  joy  of  it  was 
radiant. 

Still  acting  in  their  representative  character,  the 
committee  of  citizens  who  had  addressed  the  council 
published  a  manifesto  to  their  constituents,  giving  the 
account  of  what  they  had  done.  It  was  scattered  broad- 
cast throughout  the  colony.  A  copy  of  it  and  of  all  the 
proceedings  and  addresses,  with  an  explanatory  and  pro- 
pitiatory letter  from  Aubry,  was  sent  by  special  despatch 
to  France,  to  the  Prime  Minister.  Ulloa  also  received 
a  copy,  which  lie  enclosed  to  his  government  with  his 
report  of  the  rebellion,  as  he  called  it.  He  named  the 
"  conspirators  :  "  Laf reniere,  Foucaut,  the  two  Noyaus, 
the  two  Milhets,  and  Villure,  summing  them  up  con- 
temptuously enough  as  "most  of  them  children  of  Can- 
adians who  had  come  to  Louisiana,  axe  on  shoulder,  to 
make  their  living  by  the  work  of  their  hands  ;  "  and  he 


NEW  ORLEANS.  106 

mentions  Madame  Fractal's  villa  as  the  place  of  their 
meeting  and  consultation,  with  the  gossip  of  Foucaut's 
love  for  her. 

A  momentary  calm,  like  the  still  pause  between  the 
blasts  of  a  hurricane,  fell  over  Louisiana  and  the  Loui- 
sianians  while  awaiting  a  response  from  France.  Surely 
the  king  would  now  reconsider  !  They  had  proved 
their  mettle,  shown  that  they  would  not,  could  not, 
pass  under  Spanish  rule.  They  had  committed  no  vio- 
lence, but  in  an  orderly,  legal  manner  expelled  the 
intruder,  keeping  among  them,  for  the  better  regula- 
tion of  the  financial  accounts  between  the  two  nations, 


the  three  Spanish  officials,  Gayarre,  Loyola,  and  Navarro. 
France,  at  any  rate,  could  not  but  stand  by  her  sons. 

But  there  was  some  uncertainty  in  their  hope,  and 
some  uneasiness  in  their  calm.  There  was  much  private 
discussion  and  prognostication,  and  the  leaders  must  have 
had  more  and  more  frequent  deliberations  in  the  gar- 
dens of  Madame  Pradel.  It  was  in  that  place  and  in 
that  emergency  of  doubt  and  anxiety,  that  they  consid- 
ered the  proposition  of  defying  both  European  powers, 
and  erecting  Louisiana  into  a  representative  govern- 
ment of  the  people,  after  the  manner  of  the  Swiss 
republic.  One  of  the  De  Noyans,  Bienville's  namesake 


106  NEW  OBLEANS. 

it  was,  Noyan  de  Bienville  he  was  called,  undertook  a 
secret  mission  to  Pensacola,  to  sound  the  British  min- 
ister there  on  the  attitude  he  \vould  assume  in  such  an 
eventuality.  A  British  governor,  however,  at  that 
period,  was  the  last  one  in  the  world  from  whom 
encouragement  might  be  expected  by  revolting  colo- 
nies. He  not  only  rebuffed  the  republican  missionary, 
but  hastened  to  transmit  the  confidence  to  Spain.  The 
republican  idea  once  launched,  however,  gained  such 
headway  in  the  city  and  country,  that  the  monarchists 
became  alarmed  and  an  elaborate  memorial  was  printed, 
combating  any  such  change  of  government. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

ON  the  morning  of  July  24th,  1769,  a  private  messen- 
ger came  post  haste  from  the  Balise,  announcing 
the  arrival  there  of  a  great  armament  under  the  com- 
mand of  Count  O'Reilly,  lieutenant-general  of  the 
armies  of  Spain.  The  midnight  following,  a  Spanish 
officer,  Don  Francisco  Bouligny,  landed,  bringing  from 
Count  O'Reilly  the  official  announcement  that  he  was 
coming  up  the  river  to  take  possession  of  the  colony 
for  Spain. 

There  was  no  further  doubt  about  the  matter  now. 
Nothing  was  to  be  expected  from  France.  She  had 
abandoned  the  colony  without  advice  or  warning,  to  the 
punishment  of  Spain.  The  will  of  the  people,  conven- 
tions, speeches,  memorials,  manifestoes,  plans,  conspira- 
cies, theories  of  government,  ...  it  all  lifted  like  a 
mountain  mist  from  the  minds  of  the  revolutionists, 
and  left  them  staring  at  the  bare  reality,  —  a  defence- 
less city  of  three  thousand  inhabitants,  called  to  account 
by  Spain,  —  Spain,  the  pitiless  avenger  of  her  majesty  ! 

Lafr<hiiere,  with  his  partisans,  hastened  to  Aubry. 
After  a  hurried  consultation,  it  was  decided  that  a  dep- 
utation of  them  should  go  to  O'Reilly  and  personally 
make  the  best  explanation  possible  of  the  expulsion  of 
Ulloa.  As  there  had  been  no  blood  shed,  it  seemed  to 

107 


108  NEW  OKLEANS. 

Aubry  that  a  prompt  apology  and  subjection  would  be 
accepted  as  a  settlement  of  the  matter.  Lafre'niere, 
Milhet,  and  Marquis  accompanied  the  Spanish  officer 
down  the  river,  and  by  him  were  presented  to  O'Reilly 
who  received  them  courteously.  Lafre'niere,  as  spokes- 
man, boldly  charged  Ulloa  with  the  blame  of  what  had 
occurred,  for  not  having  presented  his  credentials,  and 
not  taking  official  possession  of  the  colony  before  exer- 
cising authority  in  it.  He  stated  that  he  now  appeared 
as  a  representative  from  the  Louisianians,  bearing  their 
professions  of  respect  for  the  king  of  Spain,  and  their 
submission  to  him. 

O'Reilly  responded  kindly,  and  in  general  terms. 
The  word  "sedition"  passing  his  lips,  Marquis  inter- 
rupted him  :  "  That  word,"  he  said,  "  is  not  applicable 
to  the  colonists."  O'Reilly  kept  the  Creoles  to  dinner 
with  him,  and  sent  them  away  full  of  hope  as  to  the 
past. 

Aubry,  at  midday,  assembled  the  panic-stricken  citi- 
zens in  the  Place  d'Armes,  and  tranquilized  their  fears 
by  an  address,  counseling  prompt  submission  to  the 
new  authority.  He  also  sent  messages  throughout  the 
parishes,  warning  the  colonists  there  against  excitement 
or  action.  The  report  made  by  the  deputation  of  their 
interview  with  O'Reilly,  was  calming,  and  the  city,  after 
forty-eight  hours  of  extreme  agitation,  sank  the  follow- 
ing night  into  the  much-needed  repose  of  sleep. 

The  dawn  of  the  18th  August  revealed  the  Spanish 
fleet  at  anchor,  in  front  of  the  city,  the  frigate  bearing 
O'Reilly  surrounded  by  twenty-three  other  vessels.  At 
noon  the  drums  beat  the  general  alarm,  and  the  troops 
royal  and  the  militia  marched  from  their  barracks  to 
the  Place  d'Armes,  and  formed  f acini?  the  river. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  109 

Count  O'Reilly,  in  all  the  pomp  of  representative 
majesty,  heralded  by  music,  preceded  by  silver  maces, 
and  followed  by  a  glittering  staff,  descended  the  gang- 
way from  his  ship  to  the  levee,  and,  advancing  to  Aubry, 
presented  his  credentials  from  the  king  of  Spain  and 
his  orders  to  receive  the  colony.  Three  thousand  Span- 
ish soldiers  filed  after  him  from  the  other  vessels  to  the 
levee,  and  formed  on  the  three  sides  of  the  Place.  The 
credentials  and  powers  were  read  aloud  to  the  citizens 
assembled,  an  anxious,  nervous  crowd.  Aubry,  after  a 
proclamation  releasing  the  colonists  from  their  alle- 
giance to  France,  presented  the  keys  of  the  city  to 
O'Reilly.  The  French  flag  was  lowered,  the  Spanish 
raised ;  the  Spanish  vessels  saluted  Avith  their  guns,  the 
soldiers  fired  off  their  muskets  and  shouted  "  Viva  el 
Rey  ! "  The  French  guards  were  relieved  by  Spanish 
guards.  The  Spanish  and  French  officers  then  in  pro- 
cession crossed  the  open  space  to  the  Cathedral,  where 
a  Te  Deum  was  celebrated. 

The  ceremonies  terminated  with  a  grand  parade  of 
the  Spanish  troops,  whose  stern  bearing,  rigid  discipline, 
and  glittering  equipments  awed  the  crowds  on  the 
banquettes  of  the  streets  through  which  they  passed. 

O'Reilly  installed  himself  in  one  of  the  handsomest 
houses  of  the  place,  and  maintained  his  viceregal 
assumptions.  Seated  on  an  elevated  canopied  chair  of 
state,  he  gave  audiences,  held  receptions,  and  received 
what  he  regarded  as  the  submission  of  the  people.  The 
old  half  tender  patriarchal  pomposity  of  T)e  Vaudreuil 
was  rude  and  savage  in  comparison.  Acting  upon  the 
hint  of  Aubry  to  pay  their  respects  promptly,  the  colo- 
nists flocked  in  numbers  to  the  receptions,  accompanied 
by  their  wives  and  daughters,  who,  with  the  responsi- 


110  NEW  ORLEANS. 

bility  and  secret  apprehensions  upon  them  for  their 
husbands  and  brothers,  lavished,  with  the  feminine 
prodigality  of  such  emergencies,  personal  charms,  taste 
in  dress,  witchery  of  manners  —  everything  to  throw 
the  seductive  glamour  of  a  social  function  over  the 
grimness  of  a  military  ceremony. 

Count  O'Reilly  maintained  a  graciousness  of  demean- 
our that  surpassed  even  the  most  sanguine  expectations. 
He  had,  however,  on  the  day  of  his  arrival,  privately 
written  to  Aubry,  demanding  entire  information,  with 
all  pertaining  documents,  respecting  the  expulsion  of 
Ulloa ;  and  the  French  captain,  cringing  with  instinc- 
tive soldierly  subjection,  under  the  whip-hand  of  military 
authority,  was  furnishing  all,  and  more  than  the  Span- 
ish general  required,  to  justify  the  predetermination  with 
which  he  sailed  from  Havana.  The  "  chiefs  of  the  crimi- 
nal enterprise,"  as  Aubry  designated  it,  were  the  richest 
and  most  distinguished  men  of  the  city, — Lafre'niere, 
Attorney-General  Masan  Chevalier  of  St.  Louis,  Mar- 
quis, retired  commandant  of  Swiss  troops  Noyan,  retired 
captain  of  cavalry,  Bienville,  brother  of  Noyan  and  son- 
in-law  of  Lafreniere,  ensign  of  marine,  Villere*,  brother- 
in-law  of  Lafre'niere,  captain  of  the  militia  of  the  CQte 
des  Allemands.  The  lawyer  Doucet  was  named  as  the 
author  of  the  manifesto.  Aubry  made  some  attempt  to 
exculpate  Foucaut. 

On  the  21st  of  August  a  grand  levee  was  held  in  the 
viceregal  hotel.  All  the  above-named  gentle'men  pre- 
senting themselves  by  invitation,  were  received  with 
more  than  usual  courtesy  by  O'Reilly,  who  suavely 
invited  them  to  follow  him  into  an  adjoining  room.  It 
was  filled  with  Spanish  bayonets.  Throwing  off  his 
mask,  O'Reilly  then  denounced  his  Creole  guests  as 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


Ill 


rebels  and  conspirators  against  the  king  of  Spain,  and 
ordered  the  guards  to  march  them  to  the  various  places 
of  imprisonment  he  had  selected  for  them.  Caresse, 
joint  author  with  Lafre"niere  of  the  address  to  the 
council,  the  two  Milhets,  Petit,  who  had  participated  in 
word  and  deed  with  the  revolutionists,  Poupet,  the 


treasurer  of  the  conspiracy,  Hardy  de  Boisblanc,  one  of 
the  council  who  commanded  the  departure  of  Ulloa,  and 
Brand,  the  royal  printer,  who  had  printed  the  various 
documents,  were  also  arrested  and  lodged  in  prison. 
Villere*,  at  the  time  of  O'Reilly's  arrival,  was  on  his 


112  NEW  ORLEANS. 

plantation  at  the  Cote  des  Allemands.  His  first 
impulse  was  to  throw  himself  under  the  protection 
of  the  British  flag,  at  Manchac,  but  a  letter  from 
Aubry  quieted  his  apprehensions  and  advised  him,  on 
the  contrary,  to  come  to  New  Orleans.  As  flight 
seemed  a  confession  of  guilt,  this  course  was  more 
acceptable  to  Villere,  and  he  set  out  at  once  for 
the  city.  At  the  Tchoupitoulas  gate  he  was  arrested 
by  the  Spanish  guard  and  carried  aboard  the  Span- 
ish frigate  lying  in  the  river.  Madame  ViHere*,  a 
daughter  of  the  Chevalier  d'Arensbourg,  hearing  of 
her  husband's  arrest,  hastened  with  all  speed  after 
him,  and  taking  a  skiff,  had  herself  rowed  out  to  the 
frigate.  She  was  ordered  away  by  the  sentinels. 
Villere*,  confined  below,  hearing  the  supplicating  voice 
of  his  wife,  and  fearing  some  insult,  attempted  to  rush 
past  his  guard  and  get  on  deck.  He  fell,  transfixed 
with  a  bayonet.  It  is  a  tradition  that  to  convince  the 
wife  of  her  husband's  death,  his  garment,  wet  with  blood, 
was  thrown  into  her  skiff,  while  a  sailor  cut  the  rope 
that  held  it  to  the  frigate. 

O'Reilly's  assessors  conducted  the  trial  in  a  room  of 
the  barracks.  Foucaut's  plea  that  as  a  royal  officer  of 
France  lie  was  accountable  only  to  her  laws,  was  allowed. 
The  charge  against  Brand,  the  royal  printer,  was  also 
similarly  remitted. 

The  other  prisoners  attempted  no  defence.  They 
denied  the  jurisdiction  of  the  tribunal  before  which 
they  were  arraigned,  and  protested  that  the  offences 
with  which  they  were  charged  were  committed  while 
the  flag  of  France  was  waving  over  them.  The  trial 
being  conducted  to  a  close,  satisfactory  to  the  judgment 
at  least  of  O'Reilly,  he,  on  the  24th  day  of  October, 


NEW  OKLEANS.  113 

rendered  the  sentence  in  the  presence  of  three  of  his 
lieutenants,  officiating  as  witnesses.  Lafre*niere,  Milhet, 
and  Marquis  (his  guests  at  the  Balise),  Noyan  de  Bien- 
ville,  and  Caresse  were  condemned  to  be  conducted 
to  the  place  of  execution  on  asses  with  ropes  around 
their  necks,  to  be  hanged,  and  their  bodies  to  remain 
hanging  until  otherwise  ordered ;  Petit  was  to  be 
imprisoned  for  life ;  Masan  and  Doucet  for  twelve 
years ;  Hardy  de  Boisblanc,  Poupet,  and  Jean  Milhet, 
for  six.  The  property  of  all  was  confiscated  to  the 
crown.  ViHere*,  being  dead,  was  represented  at  the  trial 
by  an  "avocat  a  sa  memoire  " — and  his  memory,  all 
that  was  left  to  Spanish  jurisdiction,  was,  in  conformity 
to  his  sentence,  condemned  to  perpetual  infamy. 

The  whole  city,  men  and  women  of  every  rank  and 
class,  threw  themselves  before  O'Reilly,  in  an  appeal  for 
at  least  a  suspension  of  the  sentence  until  royal  clem- 
ency could  be  invoked.  He  was  inexorable.  On  the 
representation  of  the  Spanish  assessors  that  there  was 
no  executioner  but  a  negro  who  was  disqualified  from 
officiating  upon  whites  ;  the  sentence  was  modified  to 
shooting,  with  the  stipulation,  however,  that  it  was  to 
retain  the  infamy  of  hanging.  For  a  similar  reason,  per- 
haps, the  clause  about  the  asses  was  ignored.  The  sen- 
tence was  carried  into  effect  the  next  day,  25th  October, 
1769,  in  the  barracks  yard.  The  only  eye-witnesses  were 
the  Spanish  soldiers,  officers,  interpreters,  and  the  sheriff, 
whose  official  account  furnishes  the  only  description 
we  have  of  it.  He  testifies  that  at  three  o'clock  of  the 
afternoon  the  prisoners  were  taken  from  their  place  of 
confinement  in  the  quarters  of  the  regiment  of  Lisbon, 
and,  tied  by  the  arms,  were  conducted  under  a  good  and 
sure  guard  of  officers  and  grenadiers  to  the  place  of 


114  NEW  ORLEANS. 

execution,  where  a  large  body  of  troops  stood  formed 
in  a  hollow  square  ;  the  sentence  was  read  to  them  in 
French  and  English ;  they  were  then  put  in  position, 
and  fired  upon.  It  was  said  that  Noyan  de  Bienville, 
young,  handsome,  and  but  recently  married  to  a  daugh- 
ter of  Lafre'niere,  awoke  enough  compassion  in  O'Reilly 
to  be  offered  his  life,  on  condition  that  he  would 
abandon  his  companions  ;  he  refused.  Lafre'niere,  firm 
and  heroic  to  the  end,  exhorted  his  son-in-law  to  send 
the  scarf  he  wore  to  his  young  wife,  that  she  might  pre- 
serve it  and  give  it  to  his  son  when  he  became  a  man. 
All  protested  against  being  tied  to  the  stakes.  Lafre- 
niere  gave  the  command  to  fire. 

From  daylight,  guards  had  been  doubled  at  every  gate 
and  station  in  the  city.  The  troops  were  kept  in  the 
public  places  and  along  the  levee  under  arms  and  pre- 
pared for  action.  Those  of  the  citizens  who  could,  fled  in 
horror  and  anguish  to  the  country.  The  rest  remained 
inside  closed  doors  and  windows.  All  signs  and  sounds 
of  life  were  suppressed.  The  explosion  of  musketry 
that  announced  the  end  reverberated  as  through  a  death 
chamber.  It  was  the  blackest  day  the  city  had  ever 
known.  It  is  still  a  day  that  lies  under  a  pall  in  mem- 
ory. No  historian  with  French  blood  can  review  it 
unmoved.  Martin  breaks  through  his  studied  calm 
and  impartiality,  after  his  account  of  it,  with  :  "  Pos- 
terity, the  judge  of  men  in  power,  will  doom  this  act  to 
public  execration.  No  necessity  demanded  it,  no  policy 
justified  it,"  and  De  Vergennes,  the  cool-headed  sage  of 
Louis  XVI.,  cannot  in  writing  of  it  forbear  the  cry  to 
his  sovereign  :  u  Ah,  Sire !  perhaps  the  names  of  these 
five  unfortunate  Frenchmen  who  were  executed  never 
came  to  the  ears  of  your  majesty  ;  deign  to  throw  ?.,  few 


NEW  ORLEANS.  115 

flowers  on  their  tomb ;  deign  to  say,  '  Laf  re*niere,  Noyan, 
Caresse,  Villere",  Marquis,  and  Milhet,  were  massacred  by 
the  orders  of  barbarous  O'Reilly  for  having  regretted 
leaving  my  service  and  for  having  wished  to  sustain  my 
laws.'" 

O'Reilly  wrote  truly  to  the  Spanish  minister,  the 
Marquis  de  Grimaldi,  that  the  remembrance  of  the  sen- 
tence would  never  be  effaced.  He  extolled  the  neces- 
sity, justice,  and  clemency  of  it,  and  declared  that  it 
amply  atoned  for  the  insult  offered  by  the  province  to 
the  dignity  and  authority  of  the  king  of  Spain. 

The  capital  now  lay  crushed  and  stunned  in  his  hands. 
When  consciousness  returned,  the  Spanish  yoke  had  been 
securely  fastened  upon  it,  and  Spanish  reconstruction  was 
an  accomplished  fact.  Instead  of  a  superior  council,  there 
was  a  cabildo,  with  regidores,  alcaldes,  alguazils,  alferez, 
and  all  the  framework  of  justice  and  laws  prescribed  by 
the  Recopilacion  de  los  Indies;  including  the  Spanish 
oath  of  office,  swearing:  "before  God  and  the  Holy  Cross 
and  the  Evangel,  to  sustain  and  defend  the  mystery  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  our  Lady  the  Virgin  Mary." 

The  Spanish  language  was  made  the  official  organ, 
not  only  for  earthly,  but  for  spiritual  intercourse  ;  and 
the  Ursuline  sisters,  it  is  on  record,  shed  bitter  tears  at 
having  to  make  their  devotions  in  a  foreign  tongue  and 
from  foreign  prayer  books.  Spanish  postulants  were 
sent  to  them  from  Cuba,  and  French  ones  were  not 
allowed  to  join  the  community,  without  previous  per- 
mission from  Madrid.  Spanish  priests  were  imported 
to  serve  in  the  churches  ;  the  Santa  Hermandad  was 
established  and  Spanish  names  filled  all  of  O'Reilly's 
appointments. 

Notwithstanding  the  enduring  sobriquet  of  "  Bloody," 


116  NEW  ORLEANS. 

affixed  to  his  name,  there  are  some  items  in  the  civic 
memory  to  O'Reilly's  credit.  By  taxes  on  hotels,  tav- 
erns, coffee-houses,  etc.,  and  on  spirituous  liquors,  he 
assigned  a  regular  revenue  to  the  city.  The  butchers, 
and  this  is  never  omitted  in  local  chronicles,  voluntarily 
engaged  to  pay  the  city  three  hundred  and  seventy 
dollars  annually,  solemnly  pledging  themselves  not, 
therefore,  to  increase  the  price  of  beef,  except  in  cases 
of  absolute  necessity.  A  levee  fund  was  obtained  by 
a  tax  upon  shipping ;  and  O'Reilly  donated  to  the  city, 
in  the  name  of  his  royal  master,  all  the  vacant  lots  on 
each  side  of  the  Place  d'Armes,  between  the  levee  and 
Chartres  street,  the  land  that  was  afterwards  rented  in 
perpetuity  to  Don  Andres  Almonaster. 

The  Creoles  met  with  a  stern  and  cutting  coldness 
any  attempt  at  social  intercourse  on  his  part.  lie  gained 
access  only  to  those  houses  whose  doors  were  forced 
open  by  official  obligation  or  private  interest.  It  was 
to  such  a  house  that  his  carriage,  escorted  by  dragoons, 
was  seen  driving  frequently  up  the  coast.  One  day, 
when  his  manner  or  temper  had  provoked  his  hostess 
into  a  repartee  too  sharp  for  his  courtesy,  he  lost  self- 
command  so  far  as  to  say  :  "  Madame,  do  you  forget 
who  I  am?  "  "  No,  sir,"  answered  the  lady,  with  a  low 
bow,  "  but  I  have  associated  with  others  higher  than 
you,  who,  never  forgetting  what  was  due  to  others, 
had  no  occasion  to  remind  others  what  was  due  to 
them."  The  count  instantly  and  curtly  took  his  leave, 
but  returned  the  next  day  with  a  good-humoured  smile 
and  an  apology. 

It  was  not  the  only  rebuff  received  by  Don  Alexander 
in  good  part.  Among  the  slaves  left  by  Noyan  de 
Bienville,  was  one  who  had  a  local  celebrity  as  cook. 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


117 


O'Reilly  sent  for  him.  "  You  belong  now,"  said  he, 
"  to  the  king  of  Spain,  and  until  you  are  sold  I  shall 
take  you  into  my  service."  "  Do  not  dare  it,"  answered 
the  slave  ;  "  you  killed  my  master.  I  would  poison  you. " 
O'Reilly  dismissed  him  unpunished.  It  was  with  a 
heartfelt  sigh  of  relief  that  the  colony  saw  O'Reilly  take 


his  departure,  just  a  year  and  three  months  after  he 
came  to  it. 

Don  Luis  de  Unzaga  y  Aurenzago,  colonel  of  infantry 
in  the  Spanish  army,  took  command.  Under  his  mild 
and  easy  administration,  the  city  recovered  from  the 
despair  into  which  O'Reilly's  severity  had  plunged  it. 
Indeed,  O'Reilly's  severity  had  produced  among  his 
own  officers  a  reaction  of  compassion  towards  the  mi- 


118  NEW  ORLEANS. 

fortunate  Louisianians,  with  whom  they  soon  entered 
into  friendly  relations.  They  were  not  O'Reillys  and 
O'Reilly  was  not  a  Spaniard  ;  and  so  it  was  not  difficult 
to  direct  public  animosity  towards  the  Irishman,  and 
when  he  sailed  away  he  carried  it  with  him. 

Creole  names  soon  began  to  appear  again  in  the 
official  lists.  St.  Denis,  and  De  la  Chaise,  a  brother- 
in-law  of  ViUere",  accepted  the  appointment  as  alcal- 
des under  the  cabildo.  Social  intercourse  completed 
in  its  best  manner  the  work  of  conciliation.  Unzaga 
married  a  Creole,  a  Maxent,  relative  of  Lafre'niere.  His 
officers  followed  his  example  :  Gayarre",  the  son  of  the 
royal  comptroller,  married  a  Grandpre;  the  intendant 
Odoardo,  her  sister ;  Bouligny,  a  d'Auberville  ;  Colonel 
de  Piernas,  a  De  Porneuf.  National  and  political 
differences  became  not  only  obliterated,  but  amal- 
gamated (as  we  have  more  than  once  seen  since)  in  a 
common  Creolism  ;  and  by  the  time  a  few  years  had 
passed,  all  could  co-operate  with  a  healthy  unanimity  in 
the  war  between  the  Spanish  and  the  French  Capuchins. 

The  triumph  of  Father  Genovaux  over  the  Jesuits 
will  be  recalled,  and  his  warrior  character.  His  triumph, 
however,  though  brilliant,  was  brief,  for  the  superior 
council,  finding  him  opposed  to  their  decree  against 
Ulloa,  expelled  him  from  the  colony  as  a  disturber 
of  the  public  peace,  which,  in  the  state  of  the  pub- 
lic mind  at  that  time,  any  friend  of  the  Spaniard 
must  necessarily  have  been.  Father  Dagobert,  there- 
fore, became  superior  of  the  Capuchins.  One  can 
hardly  describe  Father  Dagobert,  without  plagiarism, 
for  in  our  local  literature,  in  poetry,  in  prose,  in 
song,  and  in  history  and  in  romance,  he  has  been  so 
worthily  celebrated  and  so  daintily  rhymed,  that  his 


NEW  ORLEANS.  119 

eulogist  can  invent  no  new  phrases.  He  was,  in  prac- 
tical parlance,  the  spiritual  director,  of  all  others,  for 
the  community  committed  to  his  charge.  The  very 
testimony  of  his  enemies  proves  this.  He  had  come 
into  the  colony  when  very  young,  and,  christening,  con- 
fessing, marrying,  and  burying  year  after  year,  he  had 
founded  in  the  hearts  of  the  community  that  jurisdic- 
tion which  only  the  friend  and  pastor  can  create  for 
himself,  and  one  in  comparison  with  which  any  appoint- 
ment of  bishop  is  insignificant.  He  was  not  only  be- 
loved of  all,  but  he  loved  all,  in  the  city  and  its 
environs.  It  was  a  notable  fact,  and  of  common 
remark,  that  the  spiritual  and  temporal  affairs  had 
never  agreed  so  harmoniously  as  under  Father  Dago- 
bert's  care.  No  ceremony,  public  or  private,  was  com- 
plete without  him,  no  feast  a  true  festivity  unless  his 
jovial  face  and  figure  appeared  among  the  guests. 
And,  it  must  always  be  remembered,  no  one  knew  bet- 
ter than  he  what  real  feasting  was.  And  so,  living 
along  with  his  flock  for  half  a  century,  Father  Dagobert 
looked  forward  with  equanimity  to  an  old  age  of  ease 
and  comfort,  —  that  ease  and  comfort  which  he  would 
have  been  the  last  to  destroy,  even  to  disturb,  in  others. 
But  there  is  a  day  of  reckoning  for  the  good  as  well 
as  the  bad.  A  short  time  after  the  Spanish  pos- 
session of  the  city,  the  Capuchin  convent  was  as- 
tounded by  the  appearance  of  its  old  superior,  Father 
Genovaux, —  Father  Genovaux,  and  yet  not  he;  so 
humble  and  patient  and  penitent  he  appeared,  with 
eyes  cast  to  the  ground  and  voice  barely  raised  above 
it,  to  beg  admittance  as  an  humble  servitor  of  the  Lord, 
into  the  house  which  he  had  once  ruled  as  superior, 
from  which  he  had  been  so  tyrannously  expelled. 


120  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Father  Dagobert  gave  what  welcome  he  could  to  a 
Capuchin  so  far  removed  from  his  own  ideals  of  grace, 
for,  good-natured  and  tolerant  as  he  was,  there  must 
have  entered  into  his  debonair  life  some  irksomeness 
from  the  presence  of  the  returned  brother,  who  went 
about  with  such  meekness  and  asceticism,  discharging 
his  duties  with  such  painful  exactitude,  when  not 
wrapt  in  prayer  or  in  study  of  the  Spanish  language. 
There  were  also  disquieting  rumours  in  the  community 
that  Spanish  Capuchins  were  to  be  sent  to  New  Orleans. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  good  men  prepared  them- 
selves for  the  worst,  for  it  happened.  In  1772  a  band 
of  Spanish  Capuchins  arrived,  under  charge  of  Father 
Cirilo,  who  was  also  charged  by  the  new  spiritual 
authority  of  Louisiana,  Don  Santiago  de  Hecheverria, 
bishop  of  Cuba,  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the  Church 
and  the  state  of  religion  in  the  colony. 

Father  Dagobert,  at  the  head  of  his  Capuchins,  duti- 
fully went  in  procession  to  the  levee  landing,  to  receive 
the  new  comers,  and  escorted  them  to  his  hospitable 
convent.  Then,  as  the  Gayarre  chronicle  proceeds  to 
relate,  Father  Genovaux  doffed  his  garb  of  humility, 
and,  raising  his  head  in  Ids  old  pride  and  dominance, 
spoke,  in  castigating  severity,  of  the  reformation  in 
store  for  the  convent ;  how  that  ignorance,  profanity, 
wickedness,  and  senility  would  now  be  driven  out,  and 
virtue,  learning,  zeal,  and  religion  reinstated.  And 
forthwith  he  betook  himself  to  the  Spanish  Capuchins, 
that  his  influence  might  make  good  his  threats. 

He  must  have  been  of  great  assistance  to  Father 
Cirilo  in  his  task,  at  least  so  we  think  as  we  read 
the  Spanish  Capuchin's  report  to  his  diocesan  at 
Havana :  — 


NEW  ORLEANS.  121 

"  The  people  of  this  province  are,  in  general,  religiously  disposed, 
and  seem  anxious  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  They  observe 
a  profound  silence  during  divine  worship,  and  when  the  Most  Holy 
Ghost  is  brought  out,  which  is  on  the  principal  holidays,  both  sexes 
prostrate  themselves  on  the  ground.  With  regard  to  the  women, 
they  are  more  honest  than  in  Spain,  and  live  more  in  accord  with 
the  principles  of  the  Church.  .  .  .  But  the  deportment  of  these 
.  .  .  how  shall  I  designate  them?  For  I  certainly  cannot  call 
Capuchins  those  whom  I  consider  unworthy  this  holy  name.  In  a 
true  Capuchin  .  .  .  there  is  naught  to  be  seen  but  austerity  and 
poverty.  But  such  is  not  the  case  with  these  men.  In  their  dress, 
their  shirts,  breeches,  stockings,  and  shoes,  they  resemble  laity 
much  more  than  members  of  their  religious  order.  They  say  they 
have  a  dispensation  from  the  Pope  ...  it  could  never  go  so  far 
as  to  authorize  a  watch  in  the  fob,  a  clock  striking  the  hour  in  the 
bedchamber,  and  another  one,  which  cost  two  hundred  and  seventy 
dollars,  in  the  refectory.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  they  have  permis- 
sion from  our  sovereign  lord,  the  Pope,  to  possess  so  many  silver 
spoons  and  forks  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  your  grace  owns  the 
like.  Xot  only  have  they  silver  spoons  of  the  ordinary  size,  but 
they  have  smaller  ones  to  take  coffee  with,  as  if  wooden  ones  were 
not  good  enough  for  Capuchins.  I  will  not  speak  of  the  furniture 
of  their  rooms,  nor  of  the  luxury  of  their  table.  (The  French 
Capuchins  ruled  teal  duck  as  fish  and  ate  it  on  fast  days.)  Since 
our  arrival,  and  on  our  account,  they  have  somewhat  modified  their 
good  living,  but  their  table  is  still  reputed  to  be  better  than  any 
other  in  the  capital.  Very  often  they  do  not  eat  at  the  common 
refectory,  but  invite  one  another  to  dine  in  their  private  apart- 
ments. .  .  . 

The  confessionals,  in  shape  and  construction,  are  more  decent 
and  better  than  ours  in  Spain  .  .  .  but  none  of  the  priests  confess 
in  the  confessionals,  but  in  the  vestry,  where  they  sit  in  an  arm- 
chair, by  the  side  of  which  the  penitent  kneels.  On  witnessing 
such  an  abuse,  1  could  not  help  asking  for  the  cause,  and  I  was 
told  it  was  owing  to  the  heat.  .  .  .  As  to  their  going  to  balls,  I 
do  not  see  any  probability  of  it,  as  the  youngest  of  them  is  fifty 
years  old,  but  they  frequently  attend  dinner  parties,  particularly 
when  they  perform  marriage  ceremonies.  The  report  is  that  these 
Capuchins  play  cards.  .  .  ." 


122  NEW   ORLEANS. 

Father  Genovaux  was  not  one  to  forget  the  loyal 
friendship  of  the  U rsulines  for  the  Jesuits ;  and  so  the 
report  proceeds !  — 

"  With  regard  to  the  nuns,  they  live  as  they  always 
have  done,  without  being  cloistered,  and  as  if  they  were 
not  nuns  at  all." 

Then,  after  these  general  shots  over  the  whole  target, 
he  aims  at  the  bull's  eye  :  — 

"  Father  Dagobert  forgot  to  notify  the  faithful  of  the  coming  of 
ember  week.  His  attention  being  called  to  the  omission,  he  solved 
the  difficulty  by  transferring  the  observance  of  the  sacred  days  to 
the  following  week  .  .  .  arrogating  to  himself  more  power  than  the 
Pope.  .  .  .  He  made  light  of  the  Bull  of  the  Santa  Cruzada 
(granting  indulgence  to  Spaniards  contributing  money  or  service 
towards  fighting  against  infidels).  This  is  how  Father  Dagobert 
lives  .  .  .  rises  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  says,  or  does  not  say, 
mass  .  .  .  takes  his  three-cornered  hat,  a  very  superfluous  and 
unworthy  appendage  for  a  Capuchin,  and  goes  to  a  somewhat  sus- 
picious house,  where  he  plays  until  dinner,  —  that  meal  over,  he 
resumes  his  occupation  until  supper-time.  .  .  .  So  great  (in  short) 
is  the  detestable  negligence  of  these  men,  that  I  think  they  are  the 
disciples  of  Luther  or  Calvin.  Not  only  ought  Dagobert  to  be 
deprived  of  his  charge,  but  he  ought  also  to  be  expelled  from  the 
colony,  to  be  punished  according  to  his  deserts,  and  sentenced  to  a 
proper  penance  for  his  personal  faults  and  the  enormous  sins  he 
has  caused  some  of  his  flock  to  commit,  and  for  which  there  are 
the  gravest  reasons  to  believe  that  those  who  have  died  are  now  in 
hell." 

Unzaga,  who  was  accused  of  partiality  to  the  French, 
wrote  to  the  captain-general  of  Cuba  that  the  difficulty 
was  all  a  struggle  for  power,  and  that  the  Spanish 
priests  were  as  bad  as  the  French.  The  whole  contro- 
versy was  submitted  to  the  home  government,  which 
wisely  temporized  in  the  matter,  signifying  that  conces- 
sions must  be  made  on  both  sides.  The  hint  was  taken. 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


123 


Father  Dagobert,  although  he  spoke  of  retiring .  to 
France  with  his  brethren,  was  persuaded  to  remain 
in  the  province  as  vicar-general  —  it  must  be  inferred 
with  a  reformed  community.  Certain  it  is,  that  the 
innocent  third  party  suffered,  as  it  always  does  in  a 
compromise  between  rival  factions,  for  we  read  now  of 


Old 


the  colonists'  being  threatened  with  excommunication, 
temporal  confiscation,  imprisonment,  and  discipline  of 
t':ie  Inquisition,  if  they  did  not  take  the  sacrament  at 
Easter. 

Across  our  civic  panorama  now  dashes  the  brilliant 
figure  of  young  Bernardo  de  Galvez.     The  son  of  the 


124  NEW  ORLEANS. 

viceroy  of  Mexico,  nephew  of  the  secretary  of  state 
and  president  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  he  had  all 
the  prestige  of  family  influence  behind  him,  and  although 
but  twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  had  the  genius  of  the 
young  for  happy  indiscretions.  He  it  was  who,  profit- 
ing by  the  war  between  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies, 
not  only  aided  the  latter  secretly,  by  allowing  supplies 
of  ammunition  and  food  for  them  to  pass  through  New 
Orleans,  but  even  allowed  the  use  of  the  river  for  Amer- 
ican incursions  into  British  territory.  And  when  the 
longed-for  opportunity  came ;  a  declaration  of  war 
between  Spain  and  England,  he  it  was  who,  burying  all 
thought  of  O'Reilly  in  the  memory  of  the  brave,  assem- 
bled the  citizens  of  New  Orleans  in  the  public  square, 
made  them  a  speech,  drawn  sword  in  one  hand,  and 
royal  commission  in  the  other,  and  so  aroused  their 
martial  ardour  that  he  gained  a  little  army  of  volunteers 
from  them,  by  popular  acclamation,  whites,  blacks,  and 
Indians  enlisting.  And  with  them  he  conquered  the 
river  country  as  far  as  Natchez,  swept  Lake  Pontchar- 
train  of  English  vessels,  captured  Mobile  by  a  brilliant 
coup  de  main,  and  closed  the  campaign  by  a  last  triumph 
at  Pensacola  .  .  .  driving  the  English  everywhere  be- 
fore him  —  and  fixing  forever  his  own  reputation  and 
the  military  prestige  of  the  Louisianians. 

It  is  an  episode  for  Calliope,  not  Clio,  and  the  muse 
of  the  lyre  has  not  disdained  it.  Fortunately  she  had 
a  votary  in  Louisiana,  Julian  Poydras  de  Lalande,  a 
young  French  Protestant,  who  emigrated  from  St. 
Domingo  to  Louisiana,  in  time  only  to  witness  its  trans- 
fer to  Spain,  sealed  with  the  blood  of  the  five  patriots. 
He  exemplified  the  dictum  in  the  time  of  Law,  that  for 
a  Frenchman  to  make  a  fortune  in  Louisiana,  he  must 


NEW  ORLEANS.  125 

arrive  there  shipwrecked.  He  furnished  himself  with 
a  pedler's  stock  in  New  Orleans  and  started  up  the 
coast  on  foot,  his  pack  strapped  to  his  back.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  great  commercial  connections  all  over 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  Into  his  pedler's  pack  (if  the 
fanciful  figure  be  permitted)  Poydras  put  all  the 
favour  of  his  handsome  face  and  pleasing  address, 
and  all  the  unswerving  morality,  indefatigable  energy, 
unimpeachable  honour,  the  generosity,  the  charity 
—  all  the  virtues,  in  fact,  which  distinguished  his 
long  after-life  and  all  the  picturesque  and  poetical 
impulses  that  made  him  the  lover  of  Clio  and  the  bard 
of  Galvez.  Out  of  it  came  plantations,  slaves,  palatial 
houses,  honours,  wealth  to  his  family,  and  princely 
charities  to  his  state  and  city.  There  may  be  those 
who  would  criticise  the  poetry  or  the  poem  ;  but  they 
are  not  Louisianians.  And,  at  any  rate,  who  would 
criticise  either  Galvez  or  Poydras  ?  Do  we  not  remember 
him,  the  latter,  through  our  great-grandparents,  in  his 
venerable  and  rather  melancholy  old  age,  dressed  always 
in  his  Louis  XV.  costume,  dispensing  the  kindly  hos- 
pitality of  his  sumptuous  plantation  to  all,  from  the 
duke  of  Orleans,  stopping  in  1798  to  visit  him,  to  the 
pedler  trudging  along  the  coast,  as  he  had  done,  pack  on 
back ;  or  voyaging  up  and  down  the  river  in  the  flatboat 
that  he  had  furnished  and  equipped  in  such  wondrously 
luxurious  comfort ;  or  posting  to  Washington,  to  con- 
fer, by  invitation,  with  the  president  about  the  state  of 
Louisiana.  He  died  as  no  man  had  yet  died  in  Louisiana, 
leaving  an  endowment  in  perpetuity  to  charity;  found- 
ing an  asylum  for  orphan  boys  in  the  city,  bequeathing 
forty  thousand  dollars  to  the  Charity  Hospital,  thirty 
thousand  dollars  to  establish  a  college  for  orphan  boys 


126  NEW  ORLEANS. 

in  his  parish  of  Pointe  Coupee,  thirty  thousand  apiece 
to  the  parishes  of  W.  Baton  Rouge  and  Pointe  Coupee, 
the  annual  interest  of  which  was  to  be  given  to  the  young 
girls  without  fortunes,  married  within  the  year ;  and 
making  the  attempt,  unfortunately  it  proved  abortive, 
to  set  his  slaves  free. 

As  for  Galvez.  In  the  poem,  the  God  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi sends  Scesaris,  the  nymph,  to  find  out  the 
cause  of  the  tumult  which,  assaulting  his  ears,  has 
broken  into  his  slumber.  Scesaris  reports  :  — 

"  Je  Fai  vn  ce  Heros,  qui  cause  tes  allarmes, 

II  resemblait  un  Dieu,  revetu  de  ses  armes, 
Son  Panache  superbe,  alloit  au  gre  du  vent, 

Et  ses  cheveux  epars  lui  servoient  d'ornement. 
Un  maintain  noble  et  fier  annoi^oit  son  courage, 

L'heroique  vertu,  brilloit  sur  son  visage, 
D'une  main  il  tenoit  son  Sabre  eblouissant, 

De  Fautre  il  retenoit  son  Coursier  bondissant." 

Scesaris'  description  of  the  intrepid  army  of  Louisi- 
aniaris,  white  and  coloured,  and  their  brave  deeds, 
under  such  a  leader,  excited  the  God  of  the  Mississippi, 
even  as  it  does  us  to-day.  He  interrupted  her  and 
"laisse  eclater  sa  joie"  promising  in  admiration  of 
Galvez,  — 

"  Je  dirai  a  mes  Eaux,  de  moderer  leur  cours, 

Et  de  fertiliser  le  lieu  de  son  sejour, 
Par  des  sentiers  de  Fleurs  qu'il  parvienne  a  la  Gloire. 
Que  son  nom  soit  ecrit,  au  Temple  de  memoire." 

To  the  great  distress  of  the  Louisianians,  and  partic- 
ularly of  New  Orleans,  Galvez  was  promoted  to  suc- 
ceed his  father  as  Viceroy  of  Mexico.  He,  too,  had 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


127 


married  a  Creole,  a  sister  of  Unzaga's  wife,  and  her 
surpassing  loveliness  of  face  and  character  is  always 
mentioned  as  a  factor  in  the  reputation  her  husband 
acquired  as  being  one  of  the  most  popular  viceroys  that 
Mexico  ever  had.  He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight, 
from  a  fall  while  hunting  at  his  famous  fortress  Chateau 
which  he  had  built  for  himself  on  the  rock  of  Che- 
pultepec.  He  was  succeeded  in  Louisiana  by  Don 
Estevan  Miro. 


^f^flf'VfJK^fJ^, 

~=~~      wl  ~~Z  '  ''**~ 

£}ns.»i*h  WS^itr 
-     ^i 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

A  ND  now  our  city,  like  a  woman  who  has  been  won 
^--*~  to  love  her  conqueror,  began  to  assume  the  recon- 
struction that  she  had  shed  blood  to  resist.  It  was  a 
time  one  loves  to  recall,  picturesque,  romantic,  rich  in 
all  poetical  growths  of  population  and  custom.  It  was 
this  time  that  has  most  impressed  its  character  on 
the  external  features  of  New  Orleans. 

Don  Estevan  Miro,  too,  married  a  Creole,  a  De 
Macarty  of  a  noble  Irish  family  which  had  followed 
James  II.  to  France.  He  continued  the  gentle,  familiar 
administration  of  Unzaga  and  Galvez.  One  of  his  first 
acts  was  to  free  the  streets  from  the  lepers,  who,  gravi- 
tating to  the  city  from  all  parts  of  the  colony,  infested 
the  alleyways  and  corners,  darting  out  like  hideous 
spectres,  demanding,  rather  then  begging,  charity  of  the 
passers-by.  He  collected  them  all  in  a  hospital  which  he 
built  for  them  in  the  rear  of  the  city,  on  the  high  land 
between  the  Metairie  ridge  and  Bayou  St.  John,  still 
designated  by  old  authorities  as  "  la  terre  aux  Lepreux." 
It  is  said  that  under  his  humane  treatment  the  pest 
almost  disappeared,  the  patients  in  the  hospital  dimin- 

128 


NEW  ORLEANS.  129 

ishing  until  none  were  left,  and  the  useless  building 
finally  fell  into  decay.  Ulloa  had  made  an  attempt  to 
confine  the  lepers  at  the  Balise  ;  but  the  popular  indig- 
nation at  what  seemed  the  heartlessness  of  the  measure 
forced  him  to  desist. 

The  conflagration,  which  in  the  history  of  every  city 
furnishes  the  ashes  for  its  Phoenix  rise,  occurred  in  New 
Orleans  on  Good  Friday,  1788.  It  started  on  Chartres 
street,  near  St.  Louis,  in  the  chapel  of  the  house  of  Don 
Vincento  Jose  Nunez,  the  military  treasurer  of  the 
colony,  from  a  lighted  candle  falling  against  the  lace 
draperies  of  the  altar.  Everything  went  before  the 
flames,  —  church,  schoolhouse,  town-hall,  watchtower, 
convent  of  Capuchins,  dwellings,  shops ;  the  heart  of 
the  vieux  carre  was  as  bare  as  when  Pauger  first  laid 
line  and  rod  to  it.  We  can  feel  the  disaster  as  though 
it  happened  but  a  month  ago,  through  the  medium  of  a 
quaint  historical  fragment  in  the  Howard  Memorial 
Library,  the  Gazette  des  Deux-Ponts  of  August,  1798, 
which  curiously,  and  fortunately  enough  for  us,  had  a 
correspondent  on  the  spot :  — 

"  All  the  vigilance  of  the  official  chiefs  and  the  prompt  assist- 
ance which  they  brought  to  bear,  were  useless,  and  even  the  engines, 
many  of  which  were  burned  by  the  heat  of  the  flames  at  an 
incredible  distance.  In  order  to  appreciate  the  horror  of  the 
conflagration,  it  suffices  to  say  that  in  less  than  five  hours  eight 
hundred  and  sixteen  buildings  were  reduced  to  ashes,  comprising 
in  the  number  all  commercial  houses  except  three,  and  the  little 
that  was  saved  was  again  lost,  or  fell  prey  to  malefactors,  the  un- 
fortunate proprietors  barely  escaping  with  their  lives.  The  loss 
is  valued  at  three  millions  of  dollars.  In  an  affliction  so  cruel  and 
so  general,  the  only  thing  that  can  diminish  our  grief,  is  that  not  a 
man  perished.  On  the  morning  of  the  morrow,  what  a  spectacle 
was  to  be  seen  :  in  the  place  of  the  flourishing  city  of  the  day  be- 


130  NEW  ORLEANS. 

fore,  nothing  but  rubbish  and  heaps  of  ruins,  pale  and  trembling 
mothers,  dragging  their  children  along  by  the  hand,  their  despair 
not  even  leaving  them  the  strength  to  weep  or  groan  ;  and  persons 
of  luxury,  quality,  and  consideration,  who  had  only  a  stupor  and 
silence  for  their  one  expression.  But,  as  in  most  extremities, 
Providence  always  reserves  secret  means  to  temper  them,  this 
time  we  found,  in  the  goodness  and  sympathy  of  the  governor 
and  the  intendant,  all  the  compassion  and  all  the  assistance  that 
we  could  expect  from  generous  hearts,  to  arrest  our  tears  and  pro- 
vide for  our  wants.  They  turned  themselves  to  succouring  us  with 
so  much  order  and  diligence,  that  we  were  immediately  relieved. 
Their  private  charities  knew  no  limits,  and  the  treasury  of  H.  M. 
was  opened  to  send  away  for  assistance." 

There  is  an  editorial  comment  on  the  communication, 
which  throws  some  light  on  the  progress  made  in  what 
Father  Cirilo  would  have  called  religion  and  morals, 
under  the  Spanish  regime.  The  comment  is  this  :  — 

"  The  person  who  sent  us  these  details  adds  that  the  fire  taking 
place  011  Good  Friday,  the  priests  refused  to  allow  the  alarm  to  be 
rung,  because  on  that  day  all  bells  must  be  dumb.  If  such  an  act 
of  superstition  had  taken  place  at  Constantinople,  it  would  not 
have  been  astonishing.  The  absurd  Mussulman  belief  in  fatality 
renders  sacred  to  them  all  the  precepts  drawn  from  the  Alkoran ; 
but  a  civilized  nation  is  not  made  to  adopt  maxims  so  culpable 
towards  humanity,  and  this  trait  of  fanatical  insanity  will  surely 
not  be  approved  by  sensible  people." 

What  lay  in  the  ashes  was,  at  best,  but  an  irregular, 
ill-built,  French  town.  What  arose  from  them  was  a 
stately  Spanish  city,  proportioned  with  grace  and  built 
with  solidity,  practically  the  city  as  we  see  it  to-day, 
and  for  which,  first  and  foremost,  we  owe  thanks  to 
Don  Andres  Almonaster ;  and  may  the  Angelus  bell 
from  the  Cathedral,  which  times  the  perpetual  masses 
for  his  soul,  never  fail  to  remind  us  of  our  obligation 
to  him. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  131 

Don  Andres  Almonaster  y  Roxas  was  an  Andalusian 
of  noble  birth,  who,  coming  to  Louisiana  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Spanish  domination,  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  escribano  publico,  or  notary  public,  an  office 
rich  in  salary,  perquisites,  and  business  opportunities. 
He  soon  acquired  wealth  in  it,  or  through  it.  He 
became  an  alcalde,  and  afterwards  bought  the  honour- 
able rank  of  alferez  royal,  or  royal  standard  bearer,  a 
distinction  which  lasted  for  life,  and  gave  him  a  sitting 
at  all  the  meetings  of  the  council  board.  He  was  mid- 
dle-aged when  he  came  into  the  province,  and,  devoting 
sixteen  years  to  making  his  fortune,  he  was  past  sixty 
before  he  married  the  beautiful  young  Creole  girl, 
Louise  de  Laronde,  in  the  parish  church  of  New 
Orleans,  in  1787,  the  year  before  it  was  destroyed  by 
fire. 

Standing  amid  the  ruins  and  ashes  of  the  town,  that 
had  been  kind  to  him  with  money,  honours,  and  a  beau- 
tiful young  wife,  Don  Andres  had  one  of  those  inspira- 
tions which  come  at  times  to  the  hearts  of  millionaires, 
converting  their  wealth  from  mere  coin  into  a  living 
attribute.  His  first  offer  to  the  cabildo  was  to  replace 
the  schoolhouse.  This  was  the  first  public  school  in 
New  Orleans ;  it  was  established  by  the  government  in 
1772,  to  teach  the  Spanish  language,  with  Don  Andreas 
Lopez  de  Armesto  as  director,  Don  Manuel  Diaz  de  Lara 
professor  of  Latin,  and  Don  Francisco  de  la  Celena 
teacher  of  reading. 

After  finishing  the  schoolhouse,  Almonaster  offered 
to  rebuild  the  parish  church,  and  did  it,  at  a  cost  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  continuing  his  benefactions  he 
replaced  the  old  charity  hospital  of  Jean  Louis  with  a 
handsome  building  which  cost  one  hundred  and  fourteen 


132  NEW  ORLEANS. 

thousand  dollars,  changing  its  name  to  the  one  it  now 
bears,  Charity  Hospital  of  St.  Charles.  He  then  filled 
in  the  still  open  space  on  each  side  of  the  church,  by  a 
convent  for  the  Capuchins  and  a  town  hall,  the  Cabildo, 
and  lie  added  the  chapel  to  the  Ursuline  convent. 

Nine  years  after  his  marriage,  and  as  if  indeed  to 
reward  the  pious  generosity  of  so  good  a  Christian  and 
citizen,  Heaven  sent  a  child  to  Don  Andres,  a  daughter, 
who  was  christened,  in  the  grand  new  Cathedral,  Micaela 
Leonarda  Antonki.  Two  years  later,  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  happiness  and  honour,  Don  Andres  died  and  was 
buried  in  front  of  the  altar  of  his  Cathedral,  where  his 
name  and  lineage,  and  good  deeds,  coat  of  arms  and 
motto,  "  A  pesar  de  todos,  venceremos  los  Godos,"  are 
cut  as  ineft'aceably  into  the  stone  over  his  resting  place, 
as,  we  trust,  his  remembrance  is  in  the  heart  of  his 
city. 

After  the  death  of  Don  Andres,  his  story  still  went 
on.  His  beautiful  young  widow  chose  a  second  hus- 
band, and  the  charivari  that  was  given  her  is  historical. 
The  charivaris  of  New  Orleans  are  historical,  in  that 
we  read  of  them  from  the  very  beginnings  of  the  city ; 
but  this  one  is  called  the  historical  charivari,  for  it  was 
greater  than  any  that  had  gone  before,  and  none  that 
came  after  ever  could  surpass  it.  Three  days  and  nights 
it  pursued  the  beautiful  widow  and  her  husband  up  and 
down  the  city,  to  and  fro,  across  the  river.  Finally,  to 
get  rid  of  it,  they  had  to  run  away. 

Besides  his  largesse  to  the  city,  Don  Andres  had  still 
wealth  enough  to  dower  his  daughter  with  millions,  so 
that  Micaela,  inheriting  also  the  beauty  of  her  mother, 
was  an  heiress  such  as  the  city  could  never  even  have 
hoped  to  possess.  It  is  said,  one  may  add.  naturally, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  133 

that  she  fell  in  love  with  a  young  man  in  the  city,  but 
was  not  allowed  to  marr}^  him.  Instead,  at  sixteen,  in 
1811,  her  hand  was  bestowed  upon  young  Joseph  Xavier 
Celestin  Delfair  de  Pontalba,  son  of  the  Baron  de  Pon- 
talba ;  and  this  carries  us  still  further  along  in  our  chron- 
icle. The  old  Baron  de  Pontalba  had,  under  French 
rule,  been  commandant  at  the  Cote  des  Allemands. 
His  city  residence  was  on  the  corner  of  St.  Peter  street 
and  the  levee.  Returning  to  France  and  joining  his 
star  to  that  of  the  great  Napoleon,  he  had  been  en- 
nobled by  him,  and  his  son  had  been  taken  into  the 
royal  household  as  page  to  the  emperor.  When  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte  first  took  Louisiana  into  his  schemes, 
he  ordered  his  ministers  to  collect  information  on  its 
resources.  M.  de  Pontalba  submitted  a  masterly  me- 
morial to  him  on  the  subject  ;  fifteen  days  afterwards 
Napoleon  had  negotiated  its  cession  from  Spain.  The 
marriage  of  his  page  with  the  Creole  heiress  was  cele- 
brated with  great  pomp  and  ceremony,  and  the  young 
couple  proceeded  immediately  to  Paris  and  took  up 
their  residence  in  a  style  so  elegant  that  it  became 
and  is  still  a  matter  of  local  pride  and  great  boasting  to 
the  good  folk  of  Micaela's  native  place. 

The  old  Baron  de  Pontalba,  haughty,  severe,  inordi- 
nately proud  of  his  good  French  blood  and  of  his  devo- 
tion to  the  great  emperor,  lived  in  a  magnificent  chateau 
called  Mont  FEveque,  outside  of  Paris,  in  as  great  a  style 
as  his  daughter-in-law  inside,  and,  to  touch  lightly  on 
the  gossip  of  that  day  in  Paris,  the  two  found  more  sub- 
jects of  difference  than  agreement,  in  their  dispositions. 
It  was  at  Mont  1'Eveque  that  occurred  the  sensation 
and  "mystery  of  a  moment  in  Paris,  —  where  no  sensation 
lasts  longer  than  a  moment,  —  Madame  de  Pontalba  was 


134  NEW  ORLEANS. 

found  one  morning  weltering  in  her  blood  on  the  floor 
of  her  chamber,  her  body  torn  with  pistol  shots  —  the 
old  Baron  sitting  in  his  arm-chair  in  his  room  in  the 
tower,  dead.  .  ,  .  By  a  miracle,  Madame  de  Pontalba 
recovered  carrying  to  her  death  the  bullets  in  her  body 
and  maintaining  to  the  end  the  prestige  of  her  wealth, 
position,  and  indomitable  will.  Frequenting,  and  fre- 
quented by,  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  she  escaped 
none  of  the  horror  and  excitement  that  filled  the  minds 
of  the  ancien  re<jime,  when  it  became  rumoured  that 
the  beautiful  palace  built  by  Louis  XIV.  for  the  Due  du 
Maine,  on  the  rue  de  Lille,  was  to  be  bought  by  the 
"  Bande  Noire,"  and  razed  to  the  ground ;  the  site  to 
be  filled  with  smaller  buildings.  With  her  Louisi- 
ana millions  she  bought  the  palace  herself,  and  even 
attempted,  with  the  vaulting  ambition  of  women,  to 
live  in  it.  Only  royal  wealth  and  attendance  could, 
however,  properly  fill  the  pile,  —  four  hundred  rooms,  it 
contained,  —  so  the  new  proprietor,  submitting,  as  even 
royal  personages  must,  to  circumstances,  demolished 
the  palace  herself,  but  reserved  all  its  artistic  wealth 
of  carvings,  columns,  ornaments,  marbles,  for  the  new 
hotel  which  she  built ;  a  hotel  of  magnificent  state, 
but  more  in  proportion  to  her  position  and  means. 
It  was  sold  afterwards  for  five  million  francs  to  one 
of  the  Rothschilds. 

And  here  —  her  princely  revenues  from  Louisiana 
being  vastly  increased,  by  profitable  investments  in 
France,  —  the  daughter  of  the  alferez  real  continued 
her  role  until  it  seems  only  the  other  day,  in  1874, 
death  rang  down  the  curtain.  And  what  a  drama, 
what  roles  had  she  not  seen  acted  on  the  stage  round 
about  her  !  The  fall,  the  double  fall,  of  Bonaparte,  the 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


135 


Restoration,  Louis  XVIII.,  Charles  X.,  Revolution, 
Louis  Philippe,  Second  Republic,  Second  Empire, 
German  triumph,  Third  Republic. 

But  to  return  to  Don  Estevan  Miro  and  his  century. 
He  also  put  his  hand  to  rebuilding.  Behind  the  Ca- 
bildo,  filling  all  the  space  on  St.  Peter  street,  to  within 
a  few  feet  of  Royal,  a  calaboza,  "  calaboose,"  was  erected, 
a  grim,  two-story  construction  surrounded  by  walls  of 


massive  thickness,  and  filled  with  little  cells  and  dun- 
geons, dark,  fast,  terrible  beyond  all  possibility  of 
need,  it  would  seem,  for  the  criminal  capabilities  of  the 
place  and  the  people.  It  was  shut  in  by  a  huge  iron 
gateway  and  ponderous  doors,  crossed  and  barred  and 
checked  with  formidable  hand  wrought  iron  bars.  Flank- 
ing the  calaboose,  almost  as  fierce  and  imposing,  was  the 
Arsenal,  opening  into  St.  Anthony's  alley.  And,  the 
march  of  improvement  once  started,  the  handsome 


136  NEW  ORLEANS. 

French  barracks,  begun  by  Kerlerec,  on  the  old  site,  near 
the  Ursuline  convent,  was  completed  with  the  addition 
of  a  new  military  hospital  and  chapel.  And  a  wooden 
custom-house  was  built  on  the  square  filled  to-day  by 
its  granite  successor  ;  then,  however,  it  stood  on  the 
river  bank,  just  inside  the  public  road.  On  the  open 
levee  space  on  the  lower  side  of  the  Place  d' Amies, 
where,  from  time  out  of  mind  the  market  venders, 
Indians,  negroes,  hunters,  trappers,  had  exposed  their 
vegetables,  fruits,  skins,  game,  herbs,  and  baskets  for 
sale,  a  shed,  or  butcher's  market,  was  put  up,  the 
beginning  of  the  arcades  of  the  French  market  of 
to-day. 

A  hotel  for  the  governor  arose  on  the  corner  of 
Toulouse  and  the  levee,  as  we  call  it  to-day,  Old  Levee 
street.  And  all  over  the  burnt  district  the  old  resi- 
dences reappeared  in  their  new  Spanish  garb,  bricks 
and  stones,  arched  windows  and  doorways,  handwrought 
iron  work,  balconies,  terraces,  courtyards,  everything 
broad  rather  than  high,  broad  rooms,  corridors,  windows, 
doorways  —  some  of  them  still  standing  entire,  as  their 
Spanish  architect  left  them,  others  represented  only  by 
vestiges,  a  wall,  window,  or  door,  balcony  or  quadrangle, 
but  all,  to  the  very  last  segment,  a  benefaction  to  the 
eye,  and  a  benediction  to  the  Spaniard's  domination, 
and,  as  has  been  said,  first  and  foremost  to  Don  Andres 
Almonaster. 

In  the  midst  of  the  activity  and  bustle  of  the  new 
energy,  came  the  news  of  the  death  of  Carlos  III.  and 
the  accession  of  Carlos  IV.,  and  pompous  memorial 
obsequies  for  the  one  event,  and  rich  festivities  for  the 
other,  were  celebrated  with  great  form.  Hardly  had 
Don  Estevan  and  the  city  settled  again  into  the  comfort- 


XEW  ORLEANS.  137 

able  routine  of  their  respective  habits,  when  the  former 
received  a  reminder  from  the  Old  World  that  a  change 
of  sovereigns  represented  something  more  than  a  cere- 
mony, even  to  a  distant  province.  Padre  Antonio  de 
Sedella,  a  Spanish  Capuchin  arrived  lately  in  the  city, 
called  upon  the  governor  and  exhibited  a  commission  to 
establish  the  Holy  Office  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  city. 
He  had  made,  he  said,  all  of  his  preparations  with  the 
utmost  secrecy  and  caution  ;  they  were  now  complete 
and  he  was  ready  for  action.  So  he  notified  the  gov- 
ernor that  he  would  soon,  at  some  late  hour  of  the  night, 
call  upon  him  for  guards  to  make  the  necessary  arrests. 
Don  Estevan  was  courteous  and  deferential  as  a  Span- 
iard should  be  to  the  priest  and  to  his  commission ;  but 
he  made  up  his  mind,  and,  like  Padre  Antonio,  made 
his  preparations  with  the  utmost  secrecy  and  caution, 
and  they  also  were  complete.  The  following  night, 
while  the  priest  was  enjoying  the  slumbers  of  a  good 
conscience  before  a  pleasant  future,  he  was  aroused  by 
a  heavy  knocking  on  his  door.  Opening  it,  he  saw  an 
officer  and  a  file  of  grenadiers.  Thinking  that  they 
came  to  assist  him  in  his  holy  office,  "  I  thank  you,  my 
friends,"  he  said,  "  and  his  excellency,  for  the  prompti- 
tude of  this  compliance  with  my  request ;  but  I  have 
no  need  of  your  services  at  this  moment.  You  can  re- 
turn, with  the  blessing  of  God.  I  shall  warn  you  in 
time  when  you  are  wanted."  He  was  informed  that 
he  was  arrested.  "  What,"  he  exclaimed,  stupefied, 
"  will  you  dare  lay  hands  on  a  commissioner  of  the  In- 
quisition ?"  "  I  dare  obey  orders,"  replied  the  officer; 
and  the  Padre  Antonio,  with  the  efficiency  of  his  own 
holy  office,  was  stowed  away  in  a  ship  in  port,  which 
sailed  the  next  day  for  Cadiz.  "  When  I  read  the  com- 


138  NEW  ORLEANS. 

munication  of  that  Capuchin,"  wrote  Miro  to  the  Cabi- 
net of  Madrid,  "  I  shuddered.  The  very  name  of 
Inquisition  uttered  in  New  Orleans  would  be  suf- 
ficient not  only  to  check  immigration  .  .  .  but  would 
be  capable  of  driving  away  those  who  have  recently 
come  here.  And  I  even  fear  that,  in  spite  of  my  hav- 
ing sent  Father  Sedella  out  of  the  country,  the  most 
fatal  consequences  may  arise  from  the  mere  suspicion 
of  the  cause  of  his  dismissal." 

A  half  century  later,  when  the  old  calaboose  was 
demolished,  secret  dungeons  containing  instruments  of 
torture  were  discovered,  which  were  supposed  to  be 
some  of  the  preparations  for  the  disciplining  of  the  col- 
onists, announced  as  complete,  by  Padre  Antonio. 

But  the  serious  responsibility  of  the  Spanish  govern- 
ors of  Louisiana,  was  the  attempt  to  mew  up  the  com- 
merce of  the  Mississippi  in  the  colonial  tariff  regulations 
of  Spain.  Honest  foreign  commerce,  as  expected,  had 
been  nigh  driven  away  from  the  port ;  what  trade 
remained  was  in  the  hands  of  smugglers  and  contra- 
bands. But  there  was  another  trade,  the  volume  and 
force  of  which  neither  the  French  nor  the  Spaniards 
had  fully  estimated.  After  the  war  of  Independence, 
the  great  Middle  States,  the  great  West  they  were 
called  then,  burst,  as  it  were,  into  their  full  rich  devel- 
opment. There  were  then  no  railroads  ;  rivers  furnished 
the  only  outlet  for  the  teeming  harvests ;  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi, gathering  up  the  waters  of  its  affluents  and 
their  freight,  bore  down  upon  its  currents  to  New 
Orleans  a  continuous  line  of  flatboats  laden  to  the  edge 
with  the  rich  produce  from  above.  "  As  many  as  forty 
boats  at  a  time,"  wrote  Miro,  could  be  seen  coming  in 
to  the  landing.  The  cargoes  found  ready  sale,  and 


NEW  ORLEANS.  139 

were  soon  the  main  source  of  food  supplies  to  the  city; 
the  flatboats,  after  being  unloaded,  were  broken  up  and 
sold  for  timber.  But  the  sturdy  flatboatmen,  from  Ohio 
and  Kentucky,  on  their  return,  had  always  a  long  list  of 
seizures,  confiscations,  imprisonments  and  vexations,  and 
interferences  of  all  kinds  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  to 
report.  The  people  of  the  States  were  too  strong  and 
bold  in  their  new  liberty  to  brook  such  treatment. 
They  claimed  that  the  Mississippi  river  belonged  to 
the  people  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  they  deter- 
mined to  have  the  use  of  it,  to  its  mouth.  The  violent 
invasion  of  Louisiana,  and  capture  of  New  Orleans, 
became  a  common  threat  with  them,  although  the 
peaceable  element  among  them  applied  to  Congress  for 
relief. 

Miro,  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  Missis- 
sippi as  the  artery  of  trade  to  the  country,  and  fully 
alive  to  the  critical  temper  of  the  Americans,  and  to  the 
defenceless  condition  of  his  province,  did  what  he  could 
to  relieve  the  tension,  by  relaxing  his  restrictions  upon 
the  river  trade.  To  fill  up  the  country,  he  encouraged 
emigration  from  the  west  itself,  into  the  Spanish  side  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley.  The  Acadian  emigrants  that 
came  into  the  country  were  settled  along  the  river 
bank,  and,  to  increase  the  Spanish  population,  a  number 
of  families  from  the  Canary  Islands  were  imported  and 
settled  in  Galvezton,  near  Manchac,  and  in  Venezuela, 
on  Bayou  Lafourche.  The  descendants  of  these  people 
are  still  called  Islingues,  Islanders. 

A  brilliant  effort  was  also  made  to  secure  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  Indians,  still  a 
formidable  and  always  unreliable  power,  to  the  north 
and  east  of  Louisiana.  Miro  invited  thirty-six  of  the 


140  NEW   ORLEANS. 

most  influential  of  the  Chickasaw  chiefs,  to  the  city, 
and  exerted  himself  to  give  them  a  royal  entertain- 
ment, receiving  them  with  the  pomp  and  ceremony  they 
su  delighted  in ;  gave  them  rich  presents,  harangued 
them,  was  harangued  by  them,  smoked  the  calumet 
with  them,  had  a  military  parade  for  them,  decorated 
them  with  medals.  The  Chickasaw  regent,  however, 
who  attended  in  place  of  the  king,  a  minor,  would  not 
accept  his  medal.  Such  distinctions,  he  said,  might 
confer  honour  on  his  warriors,  but  he  was  already 
sufficiently  distinguished  by  his  royal  blood.  The 
gala  wound  up  with  a  grand  ball,  which  delighted 
the  dusky  visitors  mightily.  They  could  not  keep 
their  eyes  off  the  beautiful  ladies,  wondrously  radiant 
in  their  ball  dresses,  and  it  is' on  record  that,  with  the 
true  gracefulness,  if  not  the  graceful  truthfulness,  of 
compliment,  one  of  the  visitors  was  heard  remarking 
(what,  indeed,  many  visitors  have  since  remarked 
at  New  Orleans  balls)  that  he  believed  the  ladies 
were  all  sisters,  and  had  descended  just  as  they  were 
from  heaven. 

The  nmtterings  from  the  north  still  continued,  and 
at  every  rise  of  the  river,  Miro  feared  a  filibustering 
army  of  indignant  Westerners  in  flatboats.  Then, 
from  suggestions  from  dissatisfied  Americans,  there 
crept  into  Spanish  calculations  a  ray  of  possibility 
that  the  Western  States  might,  for  commercial  advan- 
tages, be  seduced  away  from  the  new  republic,  which 
seemed  apparently  a  union  only  for  the  advantage 
of  the  east  and  north,  and  formed  into  an  independent 
republic,  friendly  to  and  even  dependent  npon, 
Spain.  And  out  of  Miro's  surmises  on  the  subject, 
and  the  fosterings  of  them  by  American  discontent, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  141 

there  arose  a  bit  of  political  intrigue  which  runs 
through  the  rest  of  the  Spanish  domination. 

Don  Estevan,  being  permitted,  at  his  own  request, 
to  retire  to  Spain,  the  province  and  city  were,  for  the 
next  five  years,  confided  to  the  Baron  Francois  Louis 
Hector  de  Carondelet.  The  Baron  was  a  native  of 
Flanders,  a  short,  plump,  choleric,  good-hearted  middle- 
aged  gentleman.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment 
he  was  serving  as  governor  of  San  Salvador,  in 
Guatemala.  Like  Miro,  he  found  himself  in  Louisiana 
wrestling  with  the  question  whether,  practically,  New 
Orleans  was  to  control  the  Mississippi  for  Spain,  or  the 
Mississippi  to  control  New  Orleans  for  America  ;  and 
like  Miro,  he  wisely  submitted  to  the  violation  of 
tariff  regulations  which  no  power  could  have  enforced. 
The  Western  trade  multiplying  in  volume  and  value, 
the  Western  boatmen,  traders,  merchants,  increased 
in  numbers,  audacity,  and  independence,  continued  to 
pour  into  the  city.  Sometimes,  in  the  wild  boisterous- 
ness  of  their  night  frolics,  their  brawling  and  skir- 
mishing with  the  Spanish  guard,  the  peaceable  citizens, 
awakened  out  of  their  slumbers,  would  wonder  if  they 
were  not  in  truth  making  good  their  threats  of  literally 
capturing  the  place.  In  the  wake  of  these  pioneers 
came  merchants  from  Philadelphia,  establishing  branch 
houses  in  the  new  business  centre,  and  they  drew  after 
them  from  all  over  the  country  the  rank  and  file  of 
their  offices,  young  Americans,  keen  for  new  chances 
at  quick  fortunes.  The  first  dottings  of  American 
names,  queer  and  foreign  they  seem,  appear  now 
among  the  French  and  Spanish,  on  signboards,  in 
society,  in  families. 

Timely   warning   had   been    sent    from    Madrid,    in 


142  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Miro's  term,  prohibiting  the  introduction  of  any  boxes, 
clocks,  or  other  wares  stamped  with  the  figure  of  the 
American  goddess  of  liberty.  It  hung  together  with 
the  Madrid  idea  of  establishing  the  Inquisition  in  New 
Orleans,  and  putting  the  Mississippi  in  leading  strings. 
But  the  American  goddess  of  liberty  was  not  the  only 
one  to  be  feared;  there  was  the  much  more  deadly 
French  goddess  of  liberty,  or  of  revolution,  and  every 
paper  or  letter  that  came  from  the  old  country  brought, 
if  not  her  figure,  the  breathing  of  her  spirit.  It  was 
electricity  to  the  atmosphere.  In  vain  came  the 
bloody  details  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  the  fugitives  from 
France,  the  boat  loads  of  terror-stricken  women  and 
children,  in  their  blood-stained  clothes,  from  St.  Do- 
mingo and  the  other  revolted  West  Indian  islands  ; 
the  Phrygian  cap  was  in,  if  not  on,  every  head  ;  the 
"•  Marseillaise "  and  the  "  (^a  ira "  on  every  Creole 
tongue.  The  proclamation  of  the  republic,  the  execu- 
tion of  Louis  XVI.  were  hailed  with  enthusiasm.  The 
excitement  reached  its  climax  with  the  declaration  of 
war  by  Spain  against  France.  Then  the  Spanish 
reconstruction  was  shaken  off,  like  a  dream,  from  the 
Creoles  ;  they  started  to  their  feet,  proclaiming  them- 
selves Frenchmen,  Frenchmen  still  in  heart,  language, 
and  nationality.  As  for  the  republic,  even  the  most 
monarchical  among  them  had  been  republican  since 
Louis  XV.  had  cast  them  off  and  abandoned  them 
to  the  vengeance  of  O'Reilly. 

They  saw  a  chance  now  of  reasserting  their  will  as  a 
people  and  being  re-annexed  by  liberty,  to  those  rights 
of  country  from  which  an  act  of  despotism  had  cast  them 
out.  One  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  signed  a  petition 
praying  for  the  protection  of  the  new  republic.  At 


NEW  ORLEANS.  143 

the  theatre  the  orchestra  was  compelled  to  play  the 
revolutionary  songs.  The  French  Jacobin  society 
of  Philadelphia  distributed  through  secret  agents 
their  inflammatory  address  from  the  freemen  of  France 
to  their  brothers  in  Louisiana,  calling  upon  them  to 
rise  for  their  liberty,  promising  that  abundant  help 
would  pour  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  to  them, 
a  promise  that  the  machinations  of  the  French  minister 
at  Washington,  and  the  well-known  dispositions  of 
the  Western  people,  rendered  only  too  plausible. 
Auguste  de  la  Chaise,  grandson  of  the  former  royal 
commissary  (nephew  of  the  confessor  of  Louis  XIV.), 
and  one  of  the  most  influential  and  distinguished  of 
the  young  Creoles,  threw  himself  heart  and  soul  into 
the  movement,  and  was  sent  by  the  French  minister 
to  Kentucky  to  recruit  the  forces  he  was  chosen  to 
lead  into  Louisiana. 

But  the  baron  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  To  off- 
set the  French  petition,  he  had  another  paper  signed 
by  an  equal  number  of  citizens  who  pledged  themselves 
to  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  actual  government  of 
Louisiana.  The  gates  of  the  city  were  closed  every 
evening  at  dark  ;  the  militia  was  mustered  ;  the  orches- 
tra at  the  theatre  was  forbidden  to  play  martial  or  revo- 
lutionary music  ;  revolutionary  songs  were  prohibited 
in  the  streets  and  coffee-houses ;  and  six  of  the  most 
ardent  republicans  were  arrested  and  sent  to  Havana, 
to  cool  their  heads  by  a  twelvemonth's  quiet  and  seclu- 
sion in  the  security  of  the  castle  fortress  there.  And 
the  city  was  fortified  as  it  never  had  been  before  and 
never  has  been  since  ;  the  baron  himself  going  every 
morning  at  dawn  011  horseback  to  superintend  the 
works.  The  maps  of  the  time  show  running  around 


144 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


the  vieux  carre  a  tight  little  palisadoed  wall,  fifteen 
feet  high,  with  a  fosse  in  front  seven  feet  deep  and  forty 
feet  wide.  On  the  corners,  fronting  the  river,  were 
two  forts,  St.  Louis  (Canal  street)  and  St.  Charles 
(Esplanade  street),  pentagon  shaped,  with  a  parapet 
coated  with  brick,  eighteen  feet  high,  armed  Avith  a 
dozen  twelve  and  eighteen  pounders.  Before  the  cen- 
tre of  the  city  was  a  great  battery,  which  crossed  its 


fire  with  the  forts,  and  commanded  the  river.  The  rear 
also  was  protected  with  three  forts,  Forts  Burgundy 
(Esplanade  street),  St.  Joseph,  and  St.  Ferdinand 
(Canal  street).  The  batteries  on  the  river  were 
strengthened,  and  a  fort  was  b'uilt  on  Bayou  St. 
John. 

A  distinguished  French  general,  Victor  Collot,  who 
visited  the  province  in  1796,  studying  its  military 
resources,  gives,  in  his  written  report  of  his  observa- 
tions, an  elaborate  and  rather  amusing  description  of 
the  baron's  fortifications. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  145 

"  It  cannot  be  denied  that  these  miniature  forts  are  well  kept 
and  trimmed  up.  But  .  .  .  they  look  more  like  playthings  in- 
tended for  babies  than  military  defences.  For  .  .  .  there  is  not 
one  that  five  hundred  determined  men  could  not  carry,  sword  in 
hand.  Once  master  of  one  of  the  principal  forts,  either  St.  Louis 
or  St.  Charles,  the  enemy  would  have  no  need  of  minding  the 
others,  because  by  bringing  the  guns  to  bear  on  the  city,  it  would 
be  forced  to  capitulate  immediately,  or  be  burned  up  in  less  than 
an  hour.  We  believe  that  M.  de  Carondelet,  when  he  adopted  this 
means  of  defence,  thought  more  of  providing  for  the  obedience  of 
the  subjects  of  his  Catholic  majesty,  then  for  an  attack  of  a  for- 
eign enemy,  and  in  this  point  of  view  he  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
pletely succeeded." 

The  baron  himself  confesses  in  his  after  reports  to 
his  government  that  this  was  his  point  of  view,  and 
said,  moreover,  that  if  New  Orleans  had  not  been  awed 
by  his  forts,  its  people  would  have  rebelled  and  a  revo- 
lution taken  place. 

However  deficient  the  baron  may  have  appeared  to 
the  general  as  a  military  engineer,  he  was  not  so  lacking 
in  strategical  shrewdness  as  to  allow  so  competent  a 
critic  within  his  lines.  He  sent  a  file  of  dragoons  to 
the  De  Bore  plantation  above  the  city,  where  the 
general  was  staying,  arrested  him,  seized  his  papers 
and  maps,  and  lodged  him  in  Fort  St.  Charles,  whose 
value  as  a  prison  at  least  he  had  an  opportunity  to 
test.  Later  he  was  sent  to  the  Balise,  and  deposited 
in  the  house  of  Ronquillo,  the  chief  pilot  there,  situated 
in  a  swamp  from  which  there  was  no  escape  except  by 
boat.  After  six  weeks'  sojourn  here,  Collot  succeeded 
in  getting  passage  in  a  brig  to  Philadelphia. 

As  for  De  Bor£  (grandfather  of  Charles  Gayarr  •,  the 
historian),  who  was  an  ardent  Frenchman,  the  baron 
thought  seriously  of  arresting  him  also,  and  sending 


146 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


him  to  Havana  ;  but  he  was  deterred  by  the  thought  of 
De  Bore"s  influential  family  connections,  and  the  great 
benefit  he  had  conferred  upon  the  colony  by  his  suc- 
cessful experiment  in  sugar  making. 

The  United  States,  in  the  meantime,  had  asserted  its 
authority,  checked  the  intrigues  of   the   French  min- 


ister  and  prevented  the  use  of  its  territory  for  an  inva- 
sion of  the  Spanish  possessions ;  and,  by  the  treaty  of 
Madrid,  1795,  Spain  allowed  the  free  navigation  of  the 
river  to  Americans,  and  granted  them  a  place  of  de- 
posit, free  of  duty,  in  the  city. 

Within  the  city  walls,  the  rebuilding  and  improve- 
ments continued.     As  there  had  been  another  disastrous 


NEW  ORLEANS.  147 

conflagration,  the  roofs,  instead  of  being  shingled, 
were  terraced  or  covered  with  round  tiles  of  home 
manufacture.  The  dark,  ill-guarded  streets,  a  haunt  for 
footpads  and  robbers  and  evildoers,  were  lighted  by 
eighty  hanging-lamps,  and  a  regular  force  of  night 
watchmen  was  formed,  serenos  the}^  were  called,  from 
their  calling  out  the  state  of  the  weather  and  the  hour 
of  the  night.  But  the  great,  the  monumental,  work  of 
the  baron,  was  the  Canal  Carondelet,  which  not  only 
drained  the  vast  swamps  in  the  rear  of  the  city,  but,  by 
bringing  the  waters  of  the  Bayou  St.  John  to  a  basin 
close  to  its  ramparts,  immensely  facilitated  and  increased 
its  commerce.  The  cabildo  in  acknowledgment  gave 
his  name  to  it. 

Louisiana  having  been  detached  from  the  Bishopric 
of  Havana,  and  erected  into  a  distinct  see,  the  city 
received,  in  1794,  a  high  and  worthy  addition  to  its 
population  and  dignity.  Her  new  bishop,  Don  Luis 
de  Peiialvert  y  Cardenas,  arrived  with  two  canons  and 
took  up  his  residence  in  the  convent  of  the  Capuchins, 
and  the  parish  church  of  St.  Louis  was  advanced  to 
the  rank  of  Cathedral. 

The  first  newspaper  of  the  colony,  "  Le  Moniteur  de 
la  Louisianne,"  made  its  appearance  also  in  this  year. 
A  Free  Masons'  lodge  was  established. 

The  establishment  of  the  French  theatre,  however, 
antedated  all  these  events.  In  1791,  among  the  first 
refugees  from  St.  Domingo  came  a  company  of  French 
comedians.  They  hired  a  hall  and  commenced  to  give 
regular  performances.  The  success  they  met,  it  m&y 
be  said,  endures  still,  for  the  French  drama  has  main- 
tained through  over  a  century  the  unbroken  continuity 
of  its  popularity  in  the  city. 


148  NEW  ORLEANS. 

The  Cathedral,  the  Cabildo,  the  theatre,  that  is  how 
they  were  ranked  then  —  and  are  ranked  now  by  the 
Creoles.  The  hired  hall  in  course  of  time  became  the 
"  Theatre  St.  Pierre,"  or  "  La  Comedie,"  on  St.  Peter 
street,  between  Bourbon  and  Orleans  streets,  and,  bar- 
ring a  two  months'  respite,  regular  performances  were 
given  on  its  boards  winter  and  summer  for  twenty 
years  —  classic  drama,  opera,  ballet,  pantomime.  In 
1808  the  new  and  progressive  "  Theatre  St.  Philippe," 
in  St.  Philip  street,  between  Royal  and  Bourbon  was 
opened  with  a  grand  programme  :  ballet,  pantomime 
"  Le  Sourd,"  and  "  L'F^cossais  a  la  Louisiane."  And  in 
its  repertoire  during  the  year,  there  was  more  local 
drama  "  Le  Commerce  de  Nuit,"  a  Creole  comedy  with 
songs  and  patois,  and  "  L 'habitant  de  la  Guadaloupe." 
The  two  theatres  kept  up  a  fine  company  of  actors  and 
musicians,  many  of  them  marrying  in  the  city  and  hav- 
ing representatives  of  their  name  still  among  us.  In 
1811  the  "Theatre  d'Orleans"  was  opened  on  the 
square  now  occupied  by  the  Convent  of  the  Holy  Fam- 
ily. When  one  said  the  "  Theatre  d'Orleans,"  in  those 
days,  and  for  forty  years  afterwards,  in  New  Orleans, 
one  expressed  a  theatrical  excellence  second  only  to 
Paris.  If  any  one  doubts  this,  there  are  plenty  yet 
alive  to  tell  of  its  glories,  and  have  we  not  the  great 
prima  donna  still  with  us,  the  beautiful  and  bewitching 
Calve?  And  he  who  can  hear  of  her  as  La  Norma  and 
La  Fille  du  Regiment  without  irrepressible  longings  to 
be  three  score  and  ten  —  has  not  the  heart  of  a  New 
Orleanian. 

In  1797  the  Baron  and  Baroness  de  Carondelet  left 
the  city  and  province,  the  baron  having  been  appointed 
president  of  the  Audiencia  Real  of  Quito.  They  were 


NEW  ORLEANS.  151 

the  most  estimable  of  government  representatives  in  all 
the  relations  of  official  and  social  life.  They  left  behind 
them  in  the  city,  to  remember  and  regret  them,  a  large 
circle  of  friends,  who,  although  now  also  passed  into  the 
remembered  and  regretted,  have  left  chronicled,  in  many 
a  cradle  and  fireside  story,  the  sayings  and  doings  of  the 
good,  domineering  little  baron  and  his  amiable  wife. 

Brigadier-general  Gayoso  de  Lemos  followed  in  the 
Hotel  du  Gouvernement.  He  had  been  educated  in 
England,  and  there,  it  is  seriously  apprehended  by 
French  and  Spanish  historians,  acquired  those  habits  of 
conviviality  which  carried  him  off  suddenly,  at  the  age  of 
forty-eight,  —  to  be  definite,  after  an  over-generous  sup- 
per with  a  distinguished  American  friend  and  visitor. 

Still  the  Americans  and  the  Western  commerce  came 
down  the  Mississippi,  and  still  from  the  Gulf  side 
flowed  in  the  immigration  from  the  West  Indies  and 
from  France.  There  could  be  no  criticism  now  of  the 
birth  or  blood  of  the  immigrants.  The  class  which  had 
scoured  the  cities  and  kidnapped  the  villagers  of  France 
for  human  stock  for  their  concessions  in  Louisiana,  were 
now  themselves  driven  into  the  New  World  by  their 
own  game,  now  turned  into  hunters.  The  Marquis  de 
Maison  Rouge,  the  Baron  de  Bastrop,  M.  de  Lassus  de 
St.  Vrain  came,  the  avant  coureurs  of  what  would  have 
been,  had  their  ideas  realized,  a  whole  provincial  nobil- 
ity for  Louisiana.  And,  with  the  unexpected  pictu- 
resqueness  of  circumstance  or  accident  that  sometimes 
groups  dancers  at  a  masked  ball,  there  came  across  to 
New  Orleans  in  1798  the  royal  fugitives  themselves,  the 
Due  d' Orleans,  the  Due  de  Montpensier,  and  the  Comte 
de  Beaujolais,  the  sons  of  Philippe  Egalite.  They  were 
cordially  welcomed  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  and  hos- 


152  NEW  ORLEANS. 

pitably  received  by  the  citizens,  among  whom  they  found 
faces  and  names  that  had  once,  like  Louisiana,  belonged 
by  every  right  to  France.  They  were  the  guests  of 
that  Creole  and  provincial  magnate,  Philippe  de  Ma- 
rigny  (who  had  once  been  a  page  at  Versailles),  at  his 
plantation,  then  below  the  city,  now  just  below  Espla- 
nade street.  Costly  entertainments  were  given  them  ; 
they  became  familiar  figures  in  the  streets,  and  fre- 
quented the  houses  of  the  prominent  citizens.  They 
visited  the  plantation  of  Julien  Poydras  and  of  M.  de 
Bore,  who  had  been,  in  his  youth,  a  mousquetaire  noir 
in  the  court  of  their  grandfather,  —  everywhere  pro- 
fessing themselves  charmed  with  the  city,  pleased  with 
the  Creole  men,  and  as  enchanted  with  the  ladies  as  the 
Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  chiefs  had  been.  In  fact, 
the  young  royal  brothers  left  an  impression  of  pleasure 
behind  them  in  the  city,  not  only  ineffaceable  but  inex- 
haustible; reminiscences  of  the  most  miraculous  origin 
spring  up  everywhere  to  commemorate  the  glory  and 
honour  of  the  visit.  Houses  built  half  a  century  after- 
wards, and  in  regions  they  never  visited,  show  rooms 
which  they  occupied.  There  are  enough  beds  in  which 
they  slept  to  fill  a  whole  year  of  nights ;  and  vases, 
tea-cups,  and  snuff-boxes  for  a  population. 

Philippe  de  Marigny,  it  is  said,  placed  not  only  his 
house,  but  his  purse,  at  the  disposition  of  his  guests,  and 
their  needs  forced  upon  them  a  temporary  use  of  the 
latter  as  well  as  of  the  former.  In  time  the  Due  d' Or- 
leans became  Louis  Philippe,  the  bourgeois  king  of 
France.  Philippe  de  Marigny  died,  and  his  son,  Ber- 
nard, the  historical  spendthrift  of  Louisiana,  fell  into 
evil  days,  having  pleasured  away  the  large  fortune  left 
him  by  his  father.  He  bethought  him  of  his  father's 


NEW   ORLEANS.  153 

royal  friend  and  guest,  and  went  to  France,  hoping  for  a 
return,  not  only  of  the  hospitality,  but  of  the  purse  of  his 
father.  But,  bourgeois  though  he  was  in  other  respects, 
Louis  Philippe  had  a  royal  memory.  He  returned  the 
hospitality,  however,  and  offered  young  Mandeville,  the 
son  of  Bernard,  an  education  at  St.  Cyr  and  a  position 
in  the  French  army.  The  young  Creole  became  lieu- 
tenant in  a  cavalry  corps  d'^lite,  but  found  that  an  obli- 
gation had  been  shifted,  rather  than  a  debt  paid  ;  and 
at  any  rate,  as  he  used  to  relate  in  his  old  age,  he  was 
too  much  of  an  American  and  a  republican  for  life  in 
France.  He  fought  a  duel  with  a  brother  officer  who 
cast  a  slur  upon  the  Americans,  resigned  his  commis- 
sion, and  returned  to  the  colony. 

Upon  the  news  of  Gayoso's  death,  the  captain -general 
of  Cuba  sent  over  the  Marquis  de  Casa  Calvo  to  be 
governor  ad  interim  of  the  colony.  Sebastian  de  Casa 
Calvo  de  la  Puerta  y  O'Faril,  Marquis  de  Casa  Calvo,  was 
a  connection  of  O'Reilly's,  under  whom  he  had  served 
as  cadet  in  Louisiana  thirty  years  before,  when  he  had 
witnessed  the  execution  of  the  five  patriots.  Curiously 
enough,  Napoleon  was  just  now  consummating  his  re- 
taliatory supplement  to  that  affair,  and,  by  the  treaty 
of  Ildefonso,  putting  France  again  in  possession  of 
Louisiana.  But,  as  before,  the  cession  was  a  secret. 

Don  Juan  Manuel  de  Salcedo,  brigadier-general  in 
the  armies  of  Spain,  arrived  in  1801,  to  relieve  the 
Marquis  de  Casa  Calvo.  Salcedo  made  a  vigorous 
defensive  effort  against  what  he  considered  the  designs 
of  the  Americans.  Their  immigration  into  the  prov- 
ince was  practically  prohibited  by  a  decree  forbidding 
the  granting  of  any  land  in  Louisiana  to  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  ;  and,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the 


154 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


influx  of  Americans  into  New  Orleans,  the  right  of 
deposit  was  suspended  by  proclamation,  and  no  other 
place,  as  provided  in  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  was  desig- 
nated. The  Western  people  saw  themselves  deprived 
of  an  outlet  without  which  they  could  not  exist.  They 
arose  in  their  resentment,  and  addressed,  not  only 
Congress,  but  the  whole  country  :  — 

"The  Mississippi  is  ours,"  they  said,  "by  the  law  of  nature. 
Our  rivers  swell  its  volume  and  flow  with  it  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Its  mouth  is  the  only  issue  which  nature  has  given  to  our  waters, 
and  we  wish  to  use  it  for  our  vessels.  No  power  in  the  world 
should  deprive  us  of  our  rights.  If  our  liberty  in  this  matter  is 
disputed,  nothing  shall  prevent  our  taking  possession  of  the  capi- 
tal, and  when  we  are  once  masters  of  it  we  shall  know  how  to 
maintain  ourselves  there.  If  Congress  refuses  ITS  effectual  protec- 
tion, we  will  adopt  the  measures  which  our  safety  requires,  even 
if  they  endanger  the  peace  of  the  Union  and  our  connection  with 
the  other  States.  No  protection,  no  allegiance." 


CHAPTER   IX. 

UT~  OUISIANA  is  the  only  place  on  the  continent, 
-*— ^  the  possessor  of  which  is  the  natural  enemy  of 
the  United  States." 

The  interesting  and  highly  creditible  display  of 
American  diplomacy  by  which  President  Jefferson 
forced  Napoleon  Bonaparte  to  accept  this  conviction 
of  his  as  an  ultimatum,  and  sell  him  for  fifteen  millions 
of  dollars,  not  only  New  Orleans,  but  one  million  square 
miles  in  the  heart  of  the  Continent,  must  be  passed 
over.  The  treaty  of  sale  was  signed  in  Paris  on  the 
thirtieth  of  April,  1803. 

Bernadotte  was  selected  to  take  command  of  the 
colony  by  Napoleon,  who  thought  thus  to  rid  himself 
cleverly  and  profitably  of  a  suspected  rival.  Berna- 
dotte, however,  had  not  only  a  Bonaparte  training,  but 
a  certain  amount  of  Bonaparte  shrewdness  himself. 
His  exaction  of  men  and  money  for  his  command  were 
such  that,  as  Napoleon  said,  he  would  not  do  as  much 
for  one  of  his  own  brothers.  He  therefore  substituted 
General  Victor,  with  a  prefect,  Laussat,  and  changed 
the  form  of  Bernadotte's  exile  by  appointing  him  min- 
ister plenipotentiary  to  the  United  States.  Bernadotte 

165 


156  NEW  ORLEANS. 

accepted  this,  but  before  he  could  complete  his  prepara- 
tions for  sailing  war  was  declared  between  France  and 
England,  and  he  returned  to  Paris,  declaring  that  he 
would  perform  no  civil  function  so  long  as  it  lasted ; 
and  it  was  some  time  before  the  First  Consul  would  be 
reconciled  to  him.  General  Victor,  preparing  also  to 
sail  for  New  Orleans,  did  not  take  his  departure  for  the 
same  reason.  Laussat  therefore  sailed  without  him,  but 
as  General  Victor  alone  was  authorized  to  receive  the 
colony  from  the  Spanish  government,  the  colonial  pre- 
fect, upon  arrival,  found  himself  without  authority  and 
without  functions. 

The  news  of  its  reannexation  to  France  was  welcomed 
by  the  city  with  the  wildest  excitement  and  rejoicings. 
Laussat  was  received  with  an  enthusiastic  ovation,  and 
his  proclamation  in  the  name  of  the  French  Republic,  to 
quote  the  words  of  the  address  returned  by  the  citizens, 
"  filled  their  souls  with  the  delirium  of  extreme  felicity. 
.  .  .  But,"  continued  the  address,  in  answer  to 
Laussat's  republican  denunciation  of  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment, "  we  should  be  unworthy  of  what  is  to  us  a 
subject  of  so  much  pride  ...  if  we  did  not  acknowledge 
that  we  have  no  cause  of  complaint  against  the  Spanish 
government.  We  have  never  groaned  under  the  yoke 
of  an  oppressive  despotism.  It  is  true  that  the  time 
was  when  our  unfortunate  kinsmen  reddened  with  their 
blood  the  soil  which  they  wished  to  preserve  for  France. 
.  .  .  But  the  calamities  which  were  inflicted  upon  us 
were  due  to  the  atrocious  soul  of  a  foreigner  and  to  an 
extreme  breach  of  faith.  .  .  .  Long  ago  we  proved  to 
the  Spaniards  that  we  did  not  consider  them  as  the  ac- 
complices of  these  atrocities.  We  have  become  bound 
together  by  family  connections  and  by  the  bonds  of 


NEW  ORLEANS.  15T 

friendship.  Let  them  have  the  untrammelled  enjoy- 
ment of  all  the  property  they  may  own  on  the  soil  that 
has  become  the  land  of  freedom,  and  let  us  share  with 
them,  like  brothers,  the  blessings  of  our  new  position." 

Five  weeks  after  Laussat's  arrival,  the  Marquis  de 
Casa  Calvo  landed  in  the  city,  sent  by  the  captain-gen- 
eral of  Cuba,  to  act  with  Governor  Salcedo  in  turning 
over  the  colony  to  France.  During  his  administration 
the  marquis  had  borne  the  reputation  of  a  man  of 
haughty  disposition  and  violent  temper,  but  with  man- 
ners so  courtly  and  elegant  as  to  gain  the  heritage  of 
many  of  those  anecdotes  which  form  the  stock  illustra- 
tions of  good  manners  from  time  immemorial  ;  exempli 
gratia,  that  well-remembered  one,  which  George  Wash- 
ington shares  with  him,  representing  him  as  returning 
the  bow  of  a  negro  with  a  "  Shall  I  be  outdone  in 
politeness  by  a  negro  ?  " 

It  was  not  such  a  man  who  would  permit  the  outgoing 
monarchy  to  be  put  to  shame  by  the  incoming  re- 
public. Attended  by  a  staff  and  a  pompous  guard,  he 
gathered  around  him  the  most  brilliant  representatives 
of  Spanish  blood  in.  society,  with  all  of  their  connec- 
tions and  affiliations,  and,  by  a  lavish  expenditure  of 
money,  he  turned  his  official  mission  into  a  triumphant 
apotheosis  of  his  government  in  Louisiana.  It  could 
not  but  discompose  the  French  prefect,  who,  however, 
with  his  wife,  maintained  with  equal  brilliancy  the 
credit  of  his  government.  Entertainment  followed 
entertainment:  balls,  concerts,  dinners,  and  the  theatre 
in  full  blast.  It  was  a  dazzling  rivalry  and  a  campaign 
of  sociabilities  such  as  no  city  could  better  enjoy,  and 
one  which,  in  the  gay  memory  of  the  irrevocable,  has 
never  been  obliterated. 


158  NEW  ORLEANS. 

But  there  was  one  element  of  the  community  that 
could  not  even  in  sympathy  participate  in  the  general 
gratification.  With  the  sacrilegious,  bloody,  French 
Revolution  fresh  in  their  minds,  the  Ursuline  nuns  could 
only  feel  terror  at  passing  under  the  government  of  the 
republic.  It  had  closed  the  religious  houses  in  France, 
why  should  it  not  do  the  same  in  French  colonies  ? 
The  mother  superior  therefore  petitioned  his  Catholic 
Majesty  to  permit  her  and  her  community  to  retire 
with  his  power,  and  establish  themselves  elsewhere  in 
his  dominions.  Their  request  was  granted,  and  they 
decided  to  return  to  Havana.  In  vain  Laussat  exerted 
himself  to  the  utmost  to  calm  their  apprehensions 
and  persuade  them  to  trust  the  new  government.  One 
of  the  elder  women,  breaking  through  conventual  re- 
straint and  habitual  timidity,  poured  forth  upon  him 
a  fierce  denunciation  of  the  power  he  represented.  In 
vain  the  deputations  of  citizens  added  their  supplica- 
tions, the  mayor  going  upon  his  knees  to  the  mother 
superior,  beseeching  her  not  to  abandon  the  city  and 
the  city's  children.  Only  nine  out  of  the  twenty -five 
could  be  induced  to  remain  under  the  Tricolor.  The 
annals  of  the  convent  tell  how,  on  Whit  Sunday,  1803, 
when  the  evening  gun  from  Fort  St.  Charles  had  fired 
its  signal,  the  sixteen  nuns,  shrouded  in  their  veils  and 
mantles,  walked  in  procession  out  of  their  chapel,  fol- 
lowed by  the  little  band  of  sisters  who  had  decided  to 
remain.  The  convent  garden  was  thronged  with  their 
old  scholars  who  pressed  around  them  for  a  farewell 
embrace.  At  the  gate  were  grouped  their  slaves,  who 
threw  themselves  on  their  knees  before  them.  The 
nuns  paused  on  the  threshold,  weeping,  irresolute  ;  then, 
throwing  themselves  into  the  arms  of  those  whom  they 


NEW  ORLEANS.  159 

were  to  leave  forever,  they  tore  themselves  away  and 
passed  into  the  street.  Slaves  bearing  lanterns  walked 
before  them.  The  vicar-general,  Governor  Salcedo,  the 
Marquis  de  Casa  Calvo,  and  a  long  cortege  of  citizens, 
followed  them  to  their  vessels  and  saw  them  embark. 

Everything  was  in  readiness  for  the  ceremony  of  the 
transfer,  and  the  arrival  of  General  Victor  was  hourly 
expected,  and  every  one,  according  to  a  local  chronicle, 
had  his  tricoloured  cockade  ready  to  be  stuck  in  his 
hat  as  soon  as  the  Spanish  flag  was  lowered  and  the 
French  raised,  when  a  vessel  from  Bordeaux  brought 
the  account  of  the  sale  of  the  province  by  Napoleon  to 
the  United  States.  Such  a  report  had  drifted  into  the 
city,  but  Laussat,  perfectly  ignorant  of  the  negotiations 
on  the  subject,  and  wholly  given  over  to  his  plans  and 
projects  for  a  glorious  French  republican  administration 
of  Louisiana,  treated  it  as  calumnious,  until  he  read  his 
appointment  by  Napoleon  as  commissioner  to  receive 
the  colony  from  Spain  and  hand  it  over  to  the  United 
States  authorities. 

The  first  ceremony,  an  elaborate  but  uninteresting 
formality,  took  place  on  Wednesday,  November  30, 
1803.  On  the  same  day  the  Spanish  municipal  govern- 
ment was  abolished,  and  a  French  one  substituted.  In 
the  city  a  mayor  was  appointed,  M.  Etienne  de  Bore", 
and  a  municipal  council  of  ten,  composed  of  the  most 
distinguished  among  the  colonists  and  all  prominent  in 
their  devotion  to  France.  Among  them  was  Villere,  the 
son  of  the  companion  of  Lafreniere.  The  Spanish  com- 
mander of  the  militia  was  replaced  by  a  Creole. 

Seventeen  days  later  the  American  commissioners, 
with  their  escort  of  troops,  arrived  and  camped  two 
miles  outside  the  city  walls.  Three  days  afterwards, 


160 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


on  December  20th,  was  consummated  what  the  Loui- 
sianians  must  most  devoutly  have  hoped  would  be  their 
last  change  of  government.  It  was  the  third  in  the 
memory  of  a  living  generation.  The  ceremony  could 
not  be  otherwise  than  funereal  to  the  natives. 

At  sunrise  the  gay  folds  of  the  Tricolor  spread  in  the 
breeze,  from  the  top  of  the  flagstaff.  It  was  noted  as 
a  good  omen  that,  instead  of  the  rain  and  clouds  that 
had  attended  both  Spanish  ceremonies,  the  day  dawned 


clear  and  bright.  A  faultless  sky  shone  overhead.  At 
nine  o'clock  the  militia  mustered  and  marched  into  the 
Place  d'Armes,  and  the  crowd  began  to  mass  in  the 
streets.  A  cannon  shot  signalled  that  the  American 
troops  had  left  their  camps  and  were  marching  towards 
the  city.  A  salute  of  twenty  guns  from  Fort  St.  Charles 
announced  that  they  were  passing  through  the  Tchou- 
pitoulas  gate,  and  being  admitted  into  the  streets  of 
the  city.  At  noon  the  column  made  its  appearance  in 


NEW  ORLEANS.  161 

the  Place  d'Armes.  General  Wilkinson  and  Governor 
Claiborne,  the  American  commissioners,  on  horseback 
at  the  head,  were  followed  by  a  detachment  of  dragoons 
in  red  uniform,  four  pieces  of  artillery,  cannoneers,  two 
companies  of  infantry,  and  one  of  carabineers.  The 
troops  formed  in  the  square  opposite  the  French  and 
local  soldiery.  The  commissioners,  dismounting,,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  as  the  Cabildo  was  now 
called,  where  they  were  received  by  the  officers  of  the 
municipality,  the  French  commissioner  and  his  suite, 
and  a  large  and  notable  assembly  of  citizens.  Laussat, 
leading  the  way  to  the  great  hall,  took  his  place  on  an 
elevated  chair  of  honour,  Governor  Claiborne  and  Gen- 
eral Wilkinson  seating  themselves  on  his  right  and  left. 
The  legal  formalities  of  three  weeks  before  were  re- 
peated. Laussat  delivered  the  keys  of  the  city  to  Clai- 
borne, changed  places  with  him,  and  publicly  absolved 
from  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  France,  all  colonists 
who  wished  to  pass  under  the  new  domination.  The 
commissioners  then  arose  and  walked  out  upon  the  bal- 
cony. What  met  their  eyes  was  not  the  small,  pretty, 
fenced  garden  of  to-day,  shut  in  by  the  sordid  ugliness 
of  railroad  buildings  in  front,  and  hedged  on  each  side 
by  serried  walls  of  brick.  Then  the  waters  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi rolled  in  untrammelled  view  of  the  cross  of  the 
Cathedral,  rippling  its  currents  around  the  long  line  of 
decorated  ships  lying  at  the  broad,  tree-shaded  levee. 
The  open  space,  then  a  parade  ground  for  an  army, 
double  its  present  size,  to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  hold- 
ing off  the  advance  of  streets  and  houses  by  noble  ave- 
nues of  trees.  In  the  centre  arose  the  great  flagstaff, 
bearing  that  flimsiest  of  fabrics  and  strongest  of  sym- 
bols that  has  ever  held  the  hearts  of  mortals  to  a  coign 


162 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


of  earth.  About  the  staff  were  grouped  the  military,  a 
vivid  spot  of  steel  and  colour,  and  around  them,  and  as 
far  as  eye  could  see,  human  faces,  eagerly  looking  up  in 
the  bright  December  sun,  a  motley  of  colour,  and  expres- 
sion, white,  black,  yellow,  red,  Frenchman,  Spaniard, 
African,  mulatto,  Indian,  and,  most  visible  of  all  by  his 


height  and  boisterous  triumph  on  the  occasion,  the  tall, 
lanky  Westerner,  in  coon-skin  cap  and  leathern  hunting 
shirt. 

At  the  appearance  of  the  commissioners,  the  Tricolor 
began  to  flutter  gently  down,  and  the  great  new  flag, 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  to  mount  the  staff.  When  they 
came  together  midway  they  paused  a  moment.  A  can- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  163 

non  shot  fired,  and  every  gun  in  the  city,  from  fort, 
battery  and  ship,  answered  in  salute  ;  the  bands  played, 
the  Americans  shouted.  The  rest  of  the  crowd  looked 
on,  silent.  When  the  reverberation  had  died  away,  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  were  waving  from  the  top  of  the 
staff.  After  an  inaugural  address  by  the  American 
governor  to  the  "  Louisianians,  my  fellow  citizens," 
there  was  a  review  of  the  troops  and  the  American 
companies  denied  out  of  one  side  of  the  square,  the 
French  out  of  the  other. 

When,  twenty-one  days  before,  the  French  flag  was 
flung  to  the  breeze,  for  its  last  brief  reign  in  Louisiana, 
a  band  of  fifty  old  soldiers  formed  themselves  into  a 
guard  of  honour,  which  was  to  act  as  a  kind  of  death 
watch  to  their  national  colours.  They  stood  now  at  the 
foot  of  the  staff  and  received  in  their  arms  the  Tricolor 
as  it  descended,  and  while  the  Americans  were  rending 
the  air  with  their  shouts,  they  marched  silently  away, 
their  sergeant  bearing  it  at  their  head.  All  uncovered 
before  it ;  the  American  troops,  as  they  passed,  pre- 
sented arms  to  it.  It  was  carried  to  the  government 
house,  and  left  in  the  hands  of  Laussat. 

Governor  Claibome  was  appointed  to  preside  over 
the  territory  of  Orleans  until  Congress  should  legislate 
the  proper  government  for  it.  While  awaiting  this,  and 
subsequent  action  of  Congress,  admitting  them  into  their 
full  rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  the  Louisian- 
ians and  Governor  Claiborne  both  passed  through  expe- 
riences, than  which  none  can  be  conceived  more  trying 
to  human,  and,  we  may  add,  national  nature. 

The  American  reconstruction  went  harder  with  the 
Creoles  than  the  Spanish  had  done.  A  thousand 
common  traits  congenialized  the  French  and  Spanish 


164 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


character.  Intercourse  with  the  Americans,  barba- 
rians they  were  called,  revealed  only  antagonisms. 
The  Louisianians  not  only  felt  the  humiliation  of 
being  sold  by  their  mother  country,  but  of  being 


bought  by  the  Americans  ;  and  every  American  who 
walked  the  streets  of  New  Orleans,  did  it  with  the 
air  of  a  personal  purchaser  of  the  province,  an  arro- 
gance unbearable  to  the  Creoles,  who  resented  it  with 


NEW  ORLEANS.  165 

an  arrogance  still  more  galling  to  the  Americans. 
They  refused  to  take  office  under  the  new  government, 
and  held  obstinately  to  the  autonomy  guaranteed  them 
in  the  act  of  cession.  Making  English  the  official  lan- 
guage of  the  government  naturally  made  French  the 
only  language  in  use  outside  of  it.  There  wac  no 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  natives  to  master  the  foreign 
idiom,  which,  through  popular  affectation,  was  ignored, 
or  was  used,  when  it  could  not  possibly  be  avoided, 
strictly  for  business  purposes.  The  governor,  who 
did  not  understand  or  speak  either  Spanish  or  French, 
surrounded  himself,  naturally,  with  men  with  whom 
he  could  communicate,  the  new-comers  ;  and  the 
discontent  increased  as  the  native  population  saw 
the  inevitable  rising  importance  to  these  last.  The 
delay  in  admitting  the  territory  into  the  Union, 
the  debates  in  Congress  over  the  qualifications  of 
the  Louisianians  for  self-government,  were  a  personal 
irritation  and  provocation  to  every  Creole.  A  Creole 
and  an  American  could  not  meet  without  a  dispute 
and  an  affray.  The  animosity  involved  all ;  the 
governor  himself  and  the  United  States  general 
actively  participated  in  it.  At  night,  insurrectionary 
placards  posted  on  the  corners  of  the  streets  attracted 
crowds  around  them,  reading  them  aloud,  copying 
them,  preventing  their  being  torn  away.  Every  day 
produced  its  crop  of  duels ;  the  governor's  private  secre- 
tary and  brother-in-law,  attempting  to  refute  a  slander, 
was  killed  in  one.  The  old  militia  was  disorganized,  and 
there  was  too  much  jealousy  and  distrust,  too  distinct  a 
line  drawn  between  the  two  populations,  to  hope  for 
any  new,  common,  efficient  force. 

The  panicky  sensationalism  crept  into  the  very  walls 


166  NEW  ORLEANS. 

of  the  convent,  and  the  nine  faithful  sisters  who  were 
willing  to  confide  themselves  to  the  godless  French 
republic  found  their  courage  fail  them  before  the 
American.  France,  at  least,  had  once  been  a  child  of 
the  church,  but  the  United  States  had  been  founded, 
so  to  speak,  on  its  religious  orphanage  ;  and  it  was 
openly  asserted  that  the  property  of  the  Ursulines 
was  to  be  confiscated  and  they  themselves  expelled 
by  the  Protestant  government.  All  that  their  most 
sympathetic  friends  ventured  to  hope  for  them  was 
that,  forbidden  to  receive  novices,  they  might  remain 
undisturbed  in  their  convent  until  death  naturally 
extinguished  the  community,  and  thus  the  property 
would  revert  to  the  nation.  Despite  the  assurances 
of  Governor  Claiborne,  the  mother  superior  wrote 
to  President  Jefferson  himself,  and  was  only  tran- 
quilized  by  the  handsome  letter  of  reassurance,  written 
with  his  own  hand,  which  is  one  of  the  treasures  of  the 
Convent  archives. 

Even  the  negroes,  free  and  slave,  had  their  prejudices 
and  superstitions  to  foster  dislike  against  the  "Meri- 
cain  Coquin,"  as  they  called  the  American  negro.  In 
short,  the  Americans  were  contemned,  despised,  and 
ridiculed,  and  their  advent  in  the  city  was  the  current 
reason  even  for  any  deviation,  or  degeneration,  as  it  was 
considered,  from  the  usual  course  of  nature.  It  is  re- 
lated that  at  a  public  ball,  which  had  been  interrupted 
by  an  earthquake  shock,  an  old  beau  was  heard  mutter- 
ing to  himself  :  "  Ce  n'etait  pas  du  temps  des  Espa- 
gnols  et  des  Frangais,  que  le  plaisir  des  dames  etait 
ainsi  trouble." 

The  Spanish  officers  and  officials  professing  them- 
selves too  much  attached  to  the  people  did  not  withdraw 


NEW  ORLEANS.  167 

from  the  city.  Casa  Calvo,  with  his  Spanish  guard, 
distinguished  address  and  winning  manners,  still  lin- 
gered, a  social  lion,  meeting  with  an  effusive  admiration, 
and  gaining  a  popularity  at  the  expense  of  the  rough 
Americans,  which  made  him  particularly  obnoxious  to 
them.  He  and  his  companions  now  had  the  opportu- 
nity, which  they  seized  with  gusto,  of  returning  a 
cherished  compliment,  and,  by  their  intrigues  and  their 
intimations  of  Spanish  invasion,  kept  Claiborne  in  as 
constant  a  state  of  anxiety  as  ever  Spanish  governor 
had  been  kept  by  Americans.  And  just  at  the  moment 
when  internal  commotion  and  Spanish  suspicion  were 
at  their  height,  who  should  arrive  in  the  city  but  that 
man  of  the  iron  mask  in  American  politics,  Aaron  Burr, 
in  an  elegant  barge  fitted  out  by  the  United  States 
military  commandant  of  the  district,  with  sails,  col- 
ours, ten  oars,  and  an  escort  of  soldiers ;  Aaron  Burr, 
glittering  in  all  the  reptilian  fame  of  his  duel  with 
Hamilton  and  supposed  traitorous  designs  against  his 
government  ! 

The  first  American  governor  of  Louisiana,  it  must  be 
confessed,  had  not  a  holiday  task  before  him,  and  he 
felt  it.  But,  while  his  spirits  yielded  to  panics  every 
now  and  then,  when  he  thought  of  the  Spaniards  out- 
side and  Spaniards  and  French  inside  his  ship,  and  while 
he  multiplied  military  precautions  with  the  enterprise 
of  a  Carondelet,  his  letters,  official  and  private,  grave, 
eloquent,  conscientious,  and  diffuse,  breathe  a  deter- 
mination to  succeed  and  the  personal  sense  of  patriotic 
responsibility  and  Christian  obligation  that  belong  to 
an  alumnus  of  the  school  of  Washington. 

A  French  traveller,  M.  Robin,  who  was  in  the  city  at 
the  time  of  its  transmission  to  the  United  States,  lias 


168  NEW  ORLEANS. 

kindly  left  a  description  of  it.  Journeying  leisurely  by 
that  pretty  route  through  the  Lakes,  and  up  the  Bayou 
St.  John,  he  notes  on  the  banks  of  the  Bayou  villas  in 
the  Italian  style,  with  pillars  supporting  the  galleries, 
surrounded  with  gardens  and  approached  through  mag- 
nificent avenues  of  wild  orange  trees. 

It  was  the  rainy  season  when  he  arrived,  and  the 
streets  were  as  impassable  as  they  are  now,  a  century 
later.  In  many  quarters  they  were  overflowed,  and, 
he  says,  held  abysses,  in  which  carriages  went  to 
pieces.  The  sidewalks,  or  banquettes,  as  they  are  still 
called,  were  great  planks,  usually  gunwales  from  the 
broken  flatboats,  fastened  flat  in  the  mud.  Only  an 
expert  could  walk  upon  them  without  damage  to  boots 
and  clothing.  The  ditches  intended  for  draining  were 
often  subjects  of  consternation,  as  they  overflowed  into 
lakes,  and  foot  passengers  had  to  make  long  detours  to 
get  around  them.  Names,  of  course,"  were  not  inscribed 
anywhere  on  the  streets,  so  they  went  by  an  alias, 
usually  given  by  the  largest  house  on  it.  The  houses 
were  generally  handsome,  built  of  brick  and  some  of 
them  several  stories  high ;  those  along  the  river  front 
were  the  most  desirable.  As  the  city  was  filling  every 
day  with  emigrants  from  France  and  fugitives  from 
St.  Domingo,  lodgings  were  very  dear.  The  popula- 
tion consisted  of  French,  Spaniards,  Anglo-Americans, 
Bohemians,  negroes,  mulattoes.  The  money-makers 
of  the  place  were  the  wholesale  merchants  ;  the  retail- 
ers, cabareteers,  and  pedlers  were  for  the  most  part 
Catalans.  The  tailors,  dressmakers,  and  bakers  were 
French  ;  carpentering  was  almost  a  monopoly  of  the 
coloured.  "  Winter  is  the  gay  season,  balls  are  fre- 
quent. Indeed,  in  a  place  so  bare  of  the  means  of 


NEW  ORLEANS.  169 

education,  and  where  the  privileges  of  religion  are  so 
curtailed,  there  is  an  abundance  of  amusement.  .  .  . 
But  in  no  country  of  the  world  is  there  practised  such 
religious  toleration."  Our  traveller  found  the  elegance 
of  France  displayed  in  the  entertainments,  and  the 
import  of  luxuries  out  of  keeping  with  so  small  and  so 
new  a  place  :  Malaga,  Bordeaux,  Madeira,  olive  oil  (a 
most  important  article  of  consumption),  brandied  fruits, 
liqueurs,  vinegars,  sausages,  anchovies,  almonds,  rai- 
sins, prunes,  cheese,  vermicelli. 

"Women,  dressed  in  calico  and  muslins,  and  never 
wearing  those  that  are  faded  and  used,  often  changing 
colours  and  patterns,  have  the  art  of  appearing  only 
in  fresh  dresses.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
Louisiana  women  are  French  women.  In  general  they 
are  tall  and  dignified,  and  the  whiteness  of  their  skin 
is  set  off  by  their  dress.  Silks  are  worn  only  for  balls 
and  grand  occasions.  Headgear  is  not  much  used,  the 
women  having  the  good  habit  of  going  bareheaded 
in  summer,  and  wearing  in  the  winter  only  Madras 
kerchiefs. 

' '  The  men  show  themselves  more  enslaved  to  fashion 
than  the  women,  going  about  in  the  heavy  clothing 
of  Europe,  heads  sunk  in  high  collars,  arms  and  hands 
lost  in  long  sleeves,  chins  buried  in  triple  cravats, 
legs  encased  in  high  boots,  with  great  flaps.  Play, 
or  gaming,  is  the  recreation  of  the  men.  In  the 
evening,  when  the  business  of  the  day  is  over,  fort- 
unes are  lost  over  and  over  again  by  it.  All  indulge 
in  it.  The  ship  captain,  even  the  most  esteemed  one, 
games  away  the  profits  of  his  last  voyage,  sometimes 
pledging  the  cargo  committed  to  his  care.  The  pedler 
games  away  all  that  he  has  crossed  the  seas  to  earn. 


170 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


The  trapper  or  voyageur  games  away  the  fruit  of  his 
long  marches  and  perilous  adventures.  The  planter 
coming  to  the  city  to  purchase  supplies  for  the  year 
from  the  sale  of  his  crop,  games  away  his  entire  account. 


and  returns  to   his   plantation   without   provisions   or 
clothing. 

"  The    women  are  different ;  with   all   their   beauty 
they  are  without  coquetry,   and    are    devoted  to  their 


NEW  ORLEANS.  171 

children  and  their  husbands,  who,  par  parenthese,  easily 
tire  of  the  monotony  of  their  society,  and  seek  amuse- 
ment elsewhere." 

The  recreation  of  the  Creole  ladies  was  dancing,  and 
throughout  the  season  they  met  regularly  at  the  public 
balls,  which  in  reality  were  not  public,  as  only  the  one 
circle  of  the  best  society  was  admitted,  and  the  guests 
were  all  friends  and  intimate.  The  refreshments  con- 
sisted of  orange  flower  syrup  and  water  and  eau  sucrS. 
Carriages  were  never  used,  presumably  on  account  of 
the  danger  from  the  streets ;  ladies  walked  to  the  balls, 
preceded  by  slaves  bearing  lanterns,  and  followed  by 
maids  carrying  their  satin  slippers.  When  the  weather 
was  too  bad  for  the  ball  to  take  place,  its  postponement 
was  announced  by  a  crier  through  the  streets,  to  the 
sound  of  a  drum.  It  was  always  understood  that  the 
postponement  was  until  the  next  fine  evening. 

Looking  back  upon  it,  across  nearly  a  century's  prog- 
ress and  sophistication,  the  beau-monde  then  appears  a 
social  Arcady.  The  refugees  from  France,  St.  Domingo, 
and  the  other  French  West  Indian  Islands,  landed  in 
the  city  generally  without  a  cent,  but  with  all  the 
beauties,  charms,  education,  and  customs,  of  genera- 
tions of  culture.  The  men  became  overseers,  managers 
of  plantations,  clerks,  teachers,  musicians,  actors,  any- 
thing to  make  the  first  bare  necessities  of  life.  The 
women  did  sewing,  embroidery,  dress-making,  millinery, 
living  or  lodging,  not  in  the  new  brick  houses,  but  in  the 
little  two-room  cottages  opposite  or  alongside.  But,  as  a 
biographer  of  the  time  explains,  thankful  for  the  escapes 
they  had  had  from  unmentionable  horrors,  all  were  con- 
tented, satisfied,  happy,  and  more  charming  men  and 
women  than  ever.  The  evening  come,  the  St.  Domingo 


172  NEW  ORLEANS. 

belle  laid  aside  her  clay's  task  of  sewing,  donned  her 
simple  gown  of  muslin,  and  accompanied  by  a  chaperon 
and  slave,  went  to  the  ball,  where,  in  the  dance  she  met 
and  made  the  most  delightful  society.  Ah  !  the  refu- 
gees from  St.  Domingo  !  Families  are  still  pointed  out 
in  the  city  as  refugees  from  St.  Domingo,  and  there  are 
still  old  negroes,  here  and  there,  who  can  relate  how 
they  were  clinging  to  the  breast  when  their  mothers 
escaped  with  masters  and  mistresses  from  St.  Domingo. 

It  is  still  a  current  opinion  in  the  city,  that  it,  was 
the  refugees  from  the  West  Indies  that  brought  the 
love  of  luxury  into  the  colony,  the  Creoles  before  that 
time,  many  believing  and  maintaining,  being  simple  in 
their  tastes  and  plain  in  their  living.  It  would  seem, 
from  the  constant  mention  made  of  it  in  family  legends, 
that  the  tropical  ease  and  languor  of  the  West  Indian 
women  were  indeed  as  much  a  novelty  then  in  the  femi- 
nine world  as  the  always  emphasized  distinction,  the 
literary  tastes  and  accomplishments  of  the  West  Indian 
men  were  in  the  masculine  world. 

What  tales  of  their  escapes  the  St.  Domingo  ladies 
had  to  tell,  and  how  entrancingly  they  told  and  acted 
them,  hovering  always  so  exquisitely  over  the  vanish- 
ing point  between  romance  and  reality  as  to  confound 
the  two  inseparably  for  generations  of  auditors. 
Always,  as  point  de  depart,  the  wondrous  marble-ter- 
raced plantation  home,  with  its  palm-groves  overlook- 
ing the  sea.  Then  the  alarm,  the  flight,  the  cries  of 
the  blood-infuriated  blacks  in  pursuit,  the  deathly  still 
hiding-place  in  the  jungle  ;  and  always,  in  every  tale, 
the  white  sails  of  an  English  vessel  out  in  the  Gulf, 
watching  for  signals  for  rescue,  the  approaching  relief 
boat,  the  rush  to  embark,  the  discovery,  the  volley  of 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


173 


musketry,  and  a  grandmother  spattering  with  her  brains 
the  child  in  her  arms,  —  or  a  child  shot  away  from  a 


mother's  breast,  or  a  faithful  slave  expiring  with  her 
arms  clasped  about  her  mistress's  knees,  or  —  every 
combination  of  heart-breaking  horrors.  There  were 


174  NEW  ORLEANS. 

always  in  each  family,  God  be  thanked,  faithful  slaves. 
And  then,  the  adventures  on  the  crowded  schooner,  beat- 
ing, through  gale  and  calm,  across  the  Gulf,  famishing 
for  water,  decimated  by  fevers,  pursued  by  pirates  !  It 
was  something  of  an  education  in  itself  to  hear  all  that 
over  and  over  again  in  one's  youth,  ...  to  know  the  nar- 
rator, to  play  with  the  blood-sprinkled  babes,  to  be  petted 
and  scolded  by  the  faithful  De'de',  Sophie,  or  Feliciane. 

The  city  was  incorporated  in  1806,  and  the  voters  had 
the  privilege  of  exercising  their  first  right  of  suffrage  in 
the  election  of  aldermen  ;  but  the  privilege,  as  an  Ameri- 
canism, was  received  with  apathy,  and  a  complete  indif- 
ference was  manifested  as  to  the  result  of  the  election. 

The  reconstruction  now  was  to  come  in  contact  with 
the  church,  and  produce  one  of  the  old-time  religious 
excitements  in  the  city.  Louisiana  had  passed  under 
the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of  Maryland, 
whose  vicar-general,  an  Irish-American,  ventured  in 
the  first  flush  of  his  authority  to  suspend  the  parish 
priest.  This  priest  was  none  other  than  the  Padre 
Antonio  de  Sedella,  who,  with  his  Inquisition,  had  been 
so  summarily  put  out  of  the  city  by  Governor  Miro. 
The  padre  had  returned,  and  by  his  unreinforced  zeal 
and  devotion  had  gained  an  authority  over  his  parish- 
ioners as  absolute  as  could  have  been  conferred  upon 
him  by  the  powers  of  the  Holy  Office.  The  sacraments, 
and  even  the  church  itself,  grew,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
faithful,  into  a  monopoly  of  which  Fere  Antoine  was 
the  possessor ;  and  they  themselves  became,  not  the 
Church's,  but  his,  faithful.  When,  one  Sunday  morn- 
ing, he  did  not  appear  as  usual  in  the  pulpit,  fear  seized 
the  assembled  congregation  that  he  might  be  ill.  The 
church  was  immediately  deserted,  all  rushing  in  a  mob 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


175 


to  the  little  cabin  in  St.  Anthony's  alley,  in  which  PSre 
Antoine  lived.     He  tranquilized  them  as  to  his  bodily 


welfare,  but  informed  them  that  he  had  been  suspended. 
Suspended  !  The  vicar-general  suspend  Fere  Antoine! 
This  was  a  piece  of  American  arrogance  beyond  even 


176  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  usual  extravagant  display  of  it.  Indignation  sped 
from  word  to  deed,  and  the  Americans  were  given  a 
dose  of  their  own  specific.  Pe~re  Antoine  was  elected 
parish  priest  by  popular  vote,  with  all  the  hurrahs  of 
a  political  expression ;  and  he  stood  by  the  results 
of  the  count.  The  vicar-general,  reduced  to  second 
rank  in  the  diocese,  appealed  to  law  to  enforce  his 
authority.  The  quarrel  grew  apace.  The  lordly  Casa 
Calvo,  with  his  retinue  of  Spanish  officers,  became 
partisans  of  their  candidate  as  against  American  author- 
ity. This  moved  the  vicar-general  to  invoke  the  aid 
of  the  chief  executive,  against  "the  ambition  of  a  re- 
fractory monk,  supported  in  his  apostasy  by  the  fanati- 
cism of  a  misguided  populace,  and  by  the  countenance 
of  an  individual  (Casa  Calvo)  whose  interference  was  to 
be  attributed  less  to  zeal  for  religion,  than  to  the  indul- 
gence of  private  passions  and  the  promotion  of  views 
equally  dangerous  to  religion  and  civil  order,"  and  he 
informed  Claiborne  that  two  emissaries  had  gone  to 
Havana  to  secure  a  reinforcement  of  monks  to  sustain 
Pdre  Antoine  in  his  schismatic  and  rebellious  conduct. 
The  governor  judiciously  declined  to  interfere  in  the 
religious  part  of  the  squabble,  but  the  political  hint 
struck  home.  During  his  next  fit  of  apprehension 
from  a  Spanish  invasion,  he  summoned  Pere  Antoine 
before  him,  and,  in  spite  of  his  protestations  of  loyalty, 
made  him  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  To  his  religious 
executive,  however,  Pere  Antoine  remained  non-com- 
pliant and  independent,  and  was  a  terror  ever  to 
succeeding  bishops.  His  little  cabin  cell,  on  the  corner 
of  St.  Anthony's  alley  and  Bourbon  street,  with  its  bare 
floor  and  pallet  lying  on  a  couple  of  planks,  and  rough 


NEW  ORLEANS.  177 

table,  crucifix,  and  chair,  was  the  rock  of  spiritual 
authority  in  the  criy.  Ladies  thronged  it  during  the 
hours  of  audience.  Betrothals,  marriages,  ill-favoured 
daughters  and  ill-moraled  sons,  contumacious  slaves 
and  light  husbands,  baptisms,  funerals,  and  first  com- 
munions, litigations  about  property,  and  dissensions 
about  gossip  ;  all  the  res  disjectae  of  family  affairs,  were 
brought  there  to  him  by  white  and  black,  and  by  coun- 
sel he  held  and  directed  all  as  with  consciousness  of  the 
infallibility  attributed  to  him.  At  sight  of  his  vener- 
able appearance  in  the  streets,  with  coarse  brown  cas- 
sock, rosary,  sandaled  feet,  broad-brimmed  hat,  white 
be^ard,  eyes  cast  down, — all  uncovered.  He  died  in 
1829.  His  funeral  procession  included  the  whole  city, 
and  was  a  grand  and  momentous  parade,  the  Free 
Masons  attending  by  a  special  order  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
of  the  state.  He  was  the  last  survivor  of  the  old  Capu- 
chin mission  in  Louisiana,  and  he  is  still  regarded  as 
a  saint  by  the  secular  world  ;  but  the  clerical  still  re- 
members a  story  about  an  early  love  and  a  duel,  and  his 
defiance  and  insubordination,  and  the  suspicion  that  he 
was  not  only  a  Free  Mason,  but  one  in  high  standing. 

The  old  Spanish  enforced  respect  for  the  church 
was  sorely  missed,  not  alone  by  the  vicar-general.  The 
lady  abbess  of  the  Ursulines,  as  the  governor  called 
her,  was  driven  by  the  rising  spirit  of  levity,  if  not  of 
godlessness,  to  solicit  the  interference  of  the  civil  au- 
thorities to  prevent  the  repeating  of  a  performance  at 
the  theatre,  in  which  her  community  was  held  up  as  an 
object  of  derision,  the  last  act  being  marked,  she  said, 
with  peculiar  indecency  and  disrespect.  Tradition  says 
that  the  play  was  that  one,  still  a  favourite  in  the  city, 
"  Les  Mousquetaires  au  Couvent."  The  governor 


178  NEW  ORLEANS. 

called  upon  the  mayor  to  check  the  license  of  the  stage, 
but  the  play  was  repeated  the  following  year,  and 
called  forth  another  complaint  from  the  mother  superior 
and  another  appeal  from  the  governor  to  the  mayor. 

One  cannot  but  feel  that  it  was  a  heroic  triumph  for 
Governor  Claiborne,  under  the  circumstances,  to  have 
secured  a  Fourth  of  July  celebration  in  1806.  It  was 
most  grandiosely  observed.  All  the  stores  and  places 
of  business  were  closed,  salutes  were  fired  from  the 
forts ;  there  was  high  mass,  at  the  Cathedral,  attended 
by  all  the  civil  and  military  functionaries,  in  the  fore- 
noon ;  a  parade  of  the  militia ;  in  the  afternoon,  a  Te 
Deum  ;  at  night  a  new  and  original  tragedy,  "  Wash- 
ington, or  the  Liberty  of  the  New  World,"  performed 
to  an  enthusiastic  audience,  and,  ending  it  all,  a  grand 
ball. 

It  was  a  timely  inspiration  of  patriotism,  for  during 
the  following  autumn  the  Spaniards  and  Aaron  Burr 
gave  the  United  States  their  last  flurry  of  a  scare.  The 
cry  was  that  Burr  was  coming  down  the  river  to  capt- 
ure New  Orleans,  and  make  it  the  capital  of  that  sep- 
aration from  the  Union  for  which  he,  according  to  pub- 
lic clamour,  had  been  long  conspiring.  The  city  was 
thrown  into  one  of  its  wild  excitements.  Old  defences 
were  hurriedly  patched  up,  naval  and  land  forces  mus- 
tered, an  embargo  was  laid  upon  shipping,  and  the 
habeas  corpus  practically  suspended.  The  crisis  proved 
not  only  harmless,  but  beneficial.  Out  of  the  tornado 
of  suspicion  and  distrust  that  swept  over  the  country, 
the  Creoles  of  Louisiana  came  unscathed.  Not  they, 
but  the  Americans,  were  accused  of  traitorous  designs, 
and  their  promptitude  in  tendering  their  service  to  the 
country  called  forth  a  special  tribute  from  the  President 


NEW  ORLEANS.  179 

in  his  annual  message.  In  1812,  its  probation  being 
finally  ended,  the  Territory  of  Orleans  was  admitted 
into  the  Union,  as  the  State  of  Louisiana.  Claiborne 
received  the  handsome  compliment  of  being  elected 
governor. 

The  population  of  the  city  had  now  advanced  to 
twenty-four  thousand  ;  but,  increased  as  it  had  been  by 
immigration  from  the  French  possessions,  it  was  more 
preponderatingly  foreign  to  America  than  ever.  The 
English  language  filtered  so  slowly  into  use,  that  the 
necessary  concessions  to  the  French  amounted  practi- 
cally to  the  recognition  of  two  official  tongues.  This 
was  most  apparent  in  the  administration  of  justice.  The 
code  itself  was  a  transcription  from  the  Napoleon  Code, 
but  on  its  adoption  by  the  legislature,  the  former  laws 
were  only  partially  repealed ;  it  was  found  in  practice 
that  the  Fuero  vie  jo,  Fuero  juezgo,  Partidas,  Recapila- 
ciones,  Leyes  de  las  Indias,  Autos  accordados  and  Royal 
schedules,  remained  parts  of  the  written  law  of  the 
State.  To  explain  them,  Spanish  commentators  and  the 
corpus  juris  civilis  were  consulted,  and  (particularly  by 
the  French  lawyers)  Pothier,  d'Aguesseau,  Dumoulin, 
and  others.  Every  court  had  to  be  furnished  with  inter- 
preters of  French,  Spanish,  and  English.  The  jury  was 
generally  divided  as  equally  as  possible  between  those 
who  understood  English  and  those  who  understood 
French,  and  to  maintain  this  national  equality  was  the 
great  feat  of  lawyers,  as  it  was  commonly  accepted 
as  the  only  sure  guarantee  of  justice.  The  case  was 
usually  opened  in  English,  during  which  the  French 
part  of  the  jury  was  excused,  to  be  summoned  when 
their  language  appeared  in  the  argument,  and  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking ones  were  granted  a  recess.  All  went 


180  NEW  ORLEANS. 

together  in  the  jury  room,  each  man  contending  that  the 
argument  he  had  listened  to  was  the  conclusive  one,  each 
disputing  about  it  in  his  own  vernacular,  and  finally 
compromising  upon  some  Volapiik  of  a  verdict,  which, 
however  arrived  at,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  more 
unsatisfactory  to  justice  than  the  verdicts  reached  to- 
day by  a  common  comprehension  of  the  argument. 

One  of  the  first  steps  in  the  American  reconstruction 
was  the  establishment,  the  incorporation  rather,  by  the 
Legislature,  of  an  educational  institution,  the  college  of 
Orleans.  The  church  of  St.  Augustin,  at  the  corner 
of  Hospital  and  St.  Claude  streets,  stands  where,  in 
an  open  stretch  of  land  in  the  rear  of  the  city,  once 
arose  the  famous  college  of  Orleans.  Famous,  of  course, 
locally  ;  but  is  not  the  truest  fame  local  fame  ?  And 
who  can  remember  in  the  city  any  octogenarian  gentle- 
man of  aristocratic  manners  and  classical  attainments 
(Greek  and  Latin  quotations  to  throw  away  in  any  con- 
versation or  correspondence),  aye,  and  even  of  superior 
stature,  who  did  not  in  his  youth  pass  through  the  col- 
lege of  Orleans  ?  No  generation  since,  so  the  octogena- 
rians say,  and  so  we  believe,  compared  in  any  respect 
with  the  college  of  Orleans  generation.  And  to  filial 
and  sympathetic  listeners  it  always  seemed  a  social  and 
educational  calamity,  never  to  be  sufficiently  deplored, 
that  the  college  should  have  disappeared  so  soon,  leav- 
ing behind  nothing  of  its  material  existence,  save  a  frag- 
ment of  its  long  dormitory  fashioned  now  into  a  tene- 
ment row.  Young  gentlemen  were  entered  at  the  age 
of  seven,  as  boarders  ;  the  only  day  scholars  were  those 
whose  parents  were  too  poor  to  pay  board  There  was 
a  still  lower  grade,  a  file  of  charity  boys,  selected  by 
the  trustees. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  183 

It  was  an  encouraging  proof  of  the  durability  of  good 
impressions,  to  hear  a  school-boy  of  1812,  Charles 
Gayarre,  tell  of  the  first  director  of  the  college,  M.  Jules 
D'Avezac,  an  emigre  from  St.  Domingo,  and  how  the 
boys  called  him  Titus  because  he  was  their  delight. 
They  never  forgot  his  courtly  manners,  nor  the  tender- 
ness and  kindness  in  his  face  whenever  he  spoke  to  them. 
In  the  expression  of  the  day,  they  could  not  tell  which 
predominated  in  him,  the  gentleman  or  the  scholar,  for 
he  was  a  distinguished  scholar ;  he  had  translated 
Marmion  into  French  and  sent  it  to  Walter  Scott, 
and  received  from  him  a  letter  expressing  how  pleased 
he  was  with  the  muse  who  had  repeated  his  verses  in 
another  hemisphere.  But  it  was  the  second  director, 
Rochefort,  another  St.  Domingan,  who,  perhaps,  most 
profoundly  impressed  the  collegians.  His  lame  foot 
naturally  gained  him  the  sobriquet  of  Tyrtasus.  He 
made  elegant  translations  from  Horace,  and  when  his 
scholars  saw  him  walking  his  gallery,  excitedly  stamp- 
ing with  his  lame  foot,  drinking  cup  after  cup  of  black 
coffee,  his  long  silky  locks  of  dark  hair  tossed  back  from 
his  pale  temples,  his  face  flushed,  his  eyes  gleaming, 
they  knew  he  was  possessed  of  the  divine  afflatus,  and 
watched  him  in  awed  curiosity.  He  distinguished  the 
best  scholars  by  allowing  them  apartments  on  the  same 
floor  with  him,  which  released  them  from  obedience  to 
other  authority  than  his.  And  occasionally  he  distill 
guished  some  of  them  supremely,  by  inviting  a  select 
few  to  dine  with  him,  when,  after  dessert,  he  would  read 
his  poetry  to  them  ;  and  what  with  the  good  wine  and 
the  good  dinner,  the  verses  never  failed  to  elicit  the 
sincerest  and  most  rapturous  applause.  But  the  great 
event  in  the  curriculum  of  these  distinguished  young 


184  NEW  ORLEANS. 

gentlemen  was  when  the  director  invited  them  to  the 
Theatre  d' Orleans,  and  marched  at  their  head  through 
the  streets.  On  the  way  back  he  would  test  their 
judgment  of  the  play  and  acting  by  asking  their  opin- 
ions, and  as  the  collegians  were  at  the  tender  age  when 
actors  and  actresses  were  divinities  whom  they  could 
not  sufficiently  extol  and  admire,  it  was  a  shock  to 
them,  as  they  trudged  home  from  Elysium,  to  have 
the  calm  criticisms  of  their  chief  dashed  like  buckets  of 
cold  water  over  the  flames  of  their  enthusiasm. 

The  professor  of  mathematics  was  not  to  be  forgotten 
either,  a  passionate  naturalist,  going  through  the  streets 
with  his  new-found  specimens  pinned  to  his  sleeves,  hat 
—  anywhere,  so  absent-minded  that  he  never  knew  in 
which  direction  he  was  walking,  and  walking  always 
with  his  eyes  shut.  He  was  the  delight  of  the  street 
gamins,  who  used  to  lie  in  wait  for  him. 

"  Ho !  Ho !  Papa  Teinturier,  where  are  you 
going  ?  " 

"  Little  devils,  you  know  very  well  I  am  going  to 
the  college." 

"  But  you  are  running  away  from  it,  Papa  Tienturier, 
Ho  !  ho  !  You  are  turning  your  back  upon  it." 

His  other  passion  was  horticulture,  and  he  was  to 
be  often  seen  working  the  whole  of  a  moonlit  night 
through,  in  his  garden,  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  and, 
to  prove  his  theory  that  a  white  man  could  stand  the 
sun  as  well  as  a  black,  he  would  work  in  it  nude 
through  the  dog  days. 

The  professor  of  drawing,  also  from  St.  Domingo,  a 
superb  figure,  with  imposing  countenance  and  majestic 
blue  eyes,  cherished  the  illusion  that  he  would  have 
been  the  finest  actor  in  the  world  had  his  gentle  birth 


NEW  ORLEANS.  185 

only  permitted  his  going  on  the  stage,  and  his  scholars 
could  always  switch  him  off  from  themselves  into  en- 
trancing declamations  from  Racine  and  Corneille,  by 
asking  how  Talma  recited  such  and  such  a  passage. 
Georges,  the  proctor,  had  a  Socratic  face,  and  wore  his 
hair  powdered,  in  a  cue.  Bruno  was  the  mulatto  stew- 
ard, who,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  winter  and 
summer,  handed  out  through  his  pantry  loophole  the 
cup  of  coffee  and  piece  of  dry  bread  that  formed  the 
entire  menu  of  the  boarders'  breakfast ;  Vincent,  the* 
doorkeeper,  was  wry  necked  and  doleful  faced  ;  Ma- 
rengo,  the  cook,  ugly  and  ferocious.  .  .  . 

The  pleasant  memories  and  chronicles  of  this  auspi- 
cious institution  come  to  an  end  in  an  untimely  encoun- 
ter, with  a  historical  bit  of  the  revolutionary  wreckage 
of  the  period,  Joseph  Lakanal.  Is  he  now  a  vivid 
recollection  anywhere  outside  the  family  and  society 
archives  of  New  Orleans  ?  The  position  of  director  of 
the  college  falling  vacant,  the  trustees  could  think  of 
no  one  more  fitted  to  fill  it  than  so  illustrious  a  repre- 
sentative of  learning  and  republicanism,  then  a  refugee 
from  the  Bourbon  restoration,  and  living  within  call, 
on  a  farm  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  A  ci-devant 
priest  and  professor  of  belles-lettres,  an  ex-member  of 
the  National  Convention,  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Education,  of  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred,  one  of  the 
active  founders  of  primary  schools  in  France,  a  member 
of  the  Institute,  and  appointed  by  Napoleon  superior  of 
the  Bonaparte  Lyceum,  —  a  man  known  in  all  positions 
for  brilliant  intellect  and  indomitable  energy,  —  his 
qualifications  for  the  position  of  director  of  the  College 
of  Orleans  seemed  indisputable  to  the  trustees.  To 
the  good  mothers  of  New  Orleans,  and  to  the  vast  ma- 


186 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


jority  of  Creoles,  however,  anti-Christ  alone  was  repre- 
sented by  the  ex-priest  and  regicide  ;  and  the  foul  fiend 
would  have  been  considered  as  good  a  director  of  youth. 
The  trustees  persisted  in  their  choice  ;  the  citizens  in 
their  opposition.  The  scholars  were  withdrawn  from 
the  college,  until  too  few  remained  to  warrant  the 
opening  of  its  doors,  which  were  finally  and  definitely 
closed. 

Lakanal,  however,  remained  in  New  Orleans  until 
the  revolution  of  1830  permitted  him  to  return  to 
France.  He  left  behind  him  in  the  city  numerous 
descendants,  and  a  memory  of  his  striking  personality, 
which,  like  his  brilliant  intellect,  although  always  inter- 
esting, was  never  estimable. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   BARATARIANS. 

TTTE  read  that,  on  the  llth  of  March,  1766,  the 
*  *  sensibilities  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Orleans 
were  very  much  excited  by  the  arrival  in  port  of  a 
Madame  Desnoyers,  a  lady  of  St.  Domingo,  who,  with 
her  child  and  servant,  were  picked  up  by  a  French  brig 
in  the  Gulf,  where  they  had  been  cast  away  by  pirates. 
They  had  been  on  the  open  sea  seven  days  when  they 
were  rescued.  The  lady's  husband  had  been  murdered, 
with  the  crew  of  the  vessel  in  which  she  was  sailing. 
"Ah,  those  pirates!"  We  can  imagine  the  volubility 
of  the  excited  sensibilities  when  Madame  Desnoyers 
related  her  sad  adventures.  What  a  rummaging  of 
memory  and  experience  must  have  followed!  What 
a  fetching  forth  of  other  harrowing  adventures!  No 
one  went  to  France  or  to  the  Islands,  in  those  days,  or 
came  from  them,  safely,  but  did  it  by  divine  grace,  and 
under  the  protection  of  the  Virgin  and  all  the  saints. 
For  the  black  flag  ruled  the  Mexican  Gulf  with  the  im- 
punity of  the  winds  of  heaven,  and  to  walk  the  plank 
was  one  of  the  legitimate  terrors  of  the  deep. 

We  get  the  bloody  horrors  of  the  Spanish  Main  now 

187 


188  NEW  ORLEANS. 

in  books,  thrilled,  mayhap,  with  the  realism  of  illus- 
trations. Then,  the  grim  facts  were  handed  from 
memory  to  memory,  with  the  red  stains  fresh  upon 
them,  and  L'Olonoise,  Morgan,  and  Black  Beard  were 
as  fresh  to  the  tongue  as  the  news  of  yesterday,  and 
it  was  as  if,  overliving  their  century,  they,  in  propria 
persona,  and  not  their  progeny,  were  roaming  the  Gulf, 
with  the  skull  and  cross  bones  at  their  mastheads. 

The  palmy  days  of  piracy  in  the  Gulf  had  really 
ended  with  the  seventeenth  century,  by  which  time  the 
rich  towns  of  the  Mexican  and  the  Central  American 
coast  had  been  sucked  dry,  and  the  gold-freighted 
caravels  had  taken  to  travelling  in  convoy,  or  armed 
like  men-of-war.  But  the  old  waters  still  offered 
opportunities  not  to  be  despised  by  the  enterprising 
and  lawless  sea-folk.  Spain,  France,  and  England  were 
ever  at  war  one  with  another,  and  a  commission  could 
always  be  obtained  at  any  one  of  the  little  islands 
they  had  grabbed  in  the  Caribbean,  and  privateering 
included  much  that  even  a  pirate  could  rejoice  in,  and 
if  any  one  ever  overstepped  the  limits  of  a  commission, 
who  was  to  testify  to  it  ? 

In  the  days  of  the  first  settlement  of  Louisiana 
there  had  been  some  cordiality  between  Mobile  and 
that  privateer's  nest,  Carthagena,  and  a  proposition  had 
even  been  made  by  the  enterprising  leaders  of  the  lat- 
ter place  to  transfer  themselves  and  their  business  to 
Mobile,  to  make  it  the  Carthagena  of  the  Gulf  in  fact. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  there  was  a  promise  of  profit 
in  it  that  dazzled  Iberville,  for  it  was  at  the  end  of 
his  great  schemes,  as  we  have  seen,  to  become  a  pri- 
vateer, to  capture  islands  for  France,  and  establish 
himself  in  Central  America.  His  enemies  were  even 


NEW  ORLEANS.  189 

then  accusing  his  brother  Chateauguay,  the  sea  courier 
of  Mobile,  of  being  a  pirate,  and  the  suspicion  was 
general  that  Bienville  and  all  the  Lemoyne  connection 
formed  a  privateering  company,  under  cloak  of  their 
official  position. 

New  Orleans  was  ever  a  favourite  port  of  the  pri- 
vateers. They  could  so  easily  run  into  the  river,  sail 
up  to  the  city,  auction  off  their  cargoes,  deposit  their 
prisoners,  and,  if  the  authorities  were  amenable,  and 
they  generally  were,  be  off  again  with  the  quick  de- 
spatch of  regular  liners,  to  the  blue  waters  and  bluer 
skies  of  their  freehold.  But  privateers  found  more 
and  more  difficulties  thrown  in  their  way  by  inter- 
national law  and  order,  more  and  more  trammels  cast 
around  their  pursuit,  as  it  might  well  be  called,  by 
advancing  civilization.  When  Louisiana  became  the 
property  of  the  United  States,  it  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  live  industry  must  cease.  But  in  this,  as  in 
other  emergencies,  only  a  genius  was  needed,  to  cleave 
a  way  through  circumstance. 

The  genius  made  his  appearance,  and  bade  fair,  for  a 
time,  not  only  to  be  the  benefactor  of  the  privateers- 
men,  but  of  the  whole  country,  by  inventing  a  good 
working  bridge  over  the  chasm,  that  has  always  been 
a  yawning  problem  in  the  ethics  of  the  United  States, 
the  chasm  between  personal  and  public  morality. 

The  conditions  in  the  city  were  most  favourable  for 
any  such  experiments.  The  sudden  growth  of  its 
population,  the  heterogeneous  mass  of  it,  the  national 
partisanship  that  prevented  any  unification  in  a  common 
public  opinion,  the  easy  morality  of  the  dominant  classes, 
and  the  spread  of  luxury  through  all  classes ;  these 
were  all  factors,  made  as  if  to  the  order  of  Jean  Lafitte. 


190  NEW  ORLEANS. 

The  impression  is  that  Pierre  and  Jean  Lafitte  came 
from  Bayonne.  Whatever  their  origin,  they  were  men 
of  attractive  personality,  with  a  great  business  capacity, 
which  had  evidently  been  thoroughly  trained  during 
their  past  unknown  life  and  experience.  Jean,  the 
younger  but  more  conspicuous  of  the  two,  is  described 
by  a  kind  of  general  authority  as  a  man  of  fair  com- 
plexion, with  black  hair  and  eyes,  wearing  his  beard 
clean  shaven  from  the  front  of  his  face.  He  spoke 
English,  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian  fluently,  and 
possessed  in  a  high  degree  that  shining  substitute  for 
education,  and  invaluable  gift  to  the  unscrupulous 
money  maker,  the  art  of  making  phrases.  He  could, 
at  any  time,  or  in  any  circumstance,  phrase  a  disinter- 
ested patriotism  and  a  lofty  morality  that  shamed  as 
flimsy  pretensions  the  expressions  of  the  professional 
leaders  and  upholders  of  it. 

After  their  arrival  in  New  Orleans,  the  Lafittes  were 
soon  surrounded  by  a  wide  circle  of  friends  and  de- 
pendants. They  evidently  had  means,  for  they  owned 
the  large  force  of  slaves  which  they  worked  in  their 
blacksmith  shop,  on  St.  Philip  street,  between  Bourbon 
and  Uauphine  ;  they  themselves  lived  on  the  north 
corner  of  St.  Philip  and  Bourbon.  As  it  is  left  to  the 
imagination  or  reason  of  posterity  to  infer  the  process 
by  which  they  changed  their  methods  of  money  making, 
imagination  or  reason  suggests  that  from  the  first  the 
blacksmith  shop  was  but  a  stalking  horse  for  a  more  prof- 
itable speculation,  and  that  their  large  circle  of  friends 
and  dependants  were  linked  together  and  to  them  by 
other  than  the  primitive  ties  of  sociability  and  sympathy. 

Smuggling,  as  well  as  privateering,  had  been  always 
a  regular  branch  of  the  commerce  of  Louisiana.  In 


NEW  ORLEANS.  191 

the  old  French  colonial  days  the  uncertainty  of  sup- 
plies from  the  mother  country  had  rendered  it  almost  a 
necessity  of  existence  :  under  the  ironclad  tariff  policy 
of  Spain  it  was  quite  a  necessity.  By  the  time  of  the 
cession  of  the  territory  to  the  United  States,  smuggling 
prices  and  smuggling  relations  had  been  so  long  estab- 
lished in  the  community  that  they  had  become  a  part  of 
the  habits  of  life  there.  The  prices  of  smuggled  goods 
were  far  cheaper  than  they  could  possibly  have  been  if 
the  customs  duties  had  been  levied  upon  them,  and  the 
relations  with  the  purveyors  of  cheap  goods  were,  what 
they  will  always  be  between  consumers  and  purveyors 
of  cheap  goods,  confidential  and  intimate ;  and  there 
was  in  addition  a  general  feeling  that  a  laudable  prin- 
ciple of  conservatism  and  independence,  rather  than 
otherwise,  was  shown  in  ignoring  the  American  preten- 
sions of  moral  superiority  over  the  old  standard. 

And  from  time  immemorial,  Barataria  had  been  asso- 
ciated with  pirates,  privateers,  contrabandists  and  smug- 
glers. It  will  be  remembered  that  Barataria  was  the 
name  of  the  island  presented  by  the  frolicsome  duchess 
to  Sancho  Panza,  for  his  sins,  as  he  learned  to  consider 
it.  How  or  when  the  name  came  to  Louisiana  is  still 
to  be  discovered,  whether  directly  from  Don  Quixote,  or 
from  the  source  which  supplied  LeSage  with  it,  the  ety- 
mology of  the  word ;  Baratear,  meaning  cheap,  Barato, 
cheap  things.  The  name  includes  all  the  Gulf  coast 
of  Louisiana  between  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and 
the  mouth  of  the  Bayou  LaFourche,  a  considerable 
stream  and  the  waterway  of  a  rich  and  populous  terri- 
tory. A  thin  strip  of  an  island,  Grand  Terre,  six  miles 
long  and  three  wide,  screens  from  the  Gulf  the  great 
Bay  of  Barataria,  whose  entrance  is  a  pass  with  a  con- 


192  NEW  ORLEANS. 

stant,  sure  depth  of  water.  Innumerable  filaments  of 
stealthy  bayous  running  between  the  bay  and  the  two 
great  streams,  the  Mississippi  and  the  LaFourche,  fur- 
nished an  incomparable  system  of  secret  intercommuni- 
cation and  concealment.  The  shore  of  the  bay  is  itself 
but  a  concourse  of  islands,  huddling  all  around,  as  if 
they  too,  like  the  vessels  of  the  first  discoverers  of  Bara- 
taria,  had  been  driven  in  there  by  a  storm  and  had 
never  cared  to  sail  out  again.  On  the  islands  are  those 
inexplicable  mammoth  heaps  of  shell,  covered  by  groves 
of  oaks,  ch§nieres  they  were  called,  which  were  selected 
by  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  as  sites  for  their  temples. 
A  prominent  group  of  these  heaps,  on  one  of  the  larger 
islands,  was  the  notorious  Great  Temple,  the  privateers' 
chief  place  of  deposit  and  trade.  It  is  a  land  of  prom- 
ise for  light  o'  law  gentry,  and  when  the  British  fleet 
finally  cleaned  the  islands  of  the  Gulf  of  them,  and  broke 
up  their  nests,  they  trimmed  their  sails  for  Barataria. 
They  soon  found  that,  disguised  as  necessity,  a  brilliant 
stroke  of  fortune  had  been  dealt  them.  They  were  in 
the  easiest  and  safest  reach  of  the  great  mart  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  where  thousands  of  their  kith  and 
kin,  driven  also  out  of  the  islands  by  the  English,  walked 
the  streets  of  the  city,  looking  for  a  livelihood. 

From  his  first  subordinate  relation  as  agent  and 
banker,  Jean  Lafitte  increased  his  usefulness  to  the 
Baratarians,  until,  through  success  in  managing  their 
affairs,  he  obtained  a  complete  control  over  them,  and 
finally  ruled  them  with  the  authority  of  a  chief.  This 
was  when  his  genius  had  compassed  their  complete  or- 
ganization, had  united  all  their  different  and  often  rival 
efforts  and  interests  into  one  company,  or,  as  we  would 
say  to-day,  formed  one  vast  "  concern  "of  all  the  pi- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  193 

rates,  privateers,  and  freebooters  of  the  Gulf.  Lafitte, 
however,  did  not  gain  his  supremacy  by  purely  logical 
and  business  methods.  An  old  survivor  of  the  Barata- 
rians,  "  Nez  Coupe,"  who  lived  at  Grand  Terre,  used  to 
tell  that  among  them  was  one,  Grambo,  who  boldly 
called  himself  a  pirate  and  flouted  Lafitte's  euphemism 
of  privateer,  and  his  men  were  so  much  of  his  kind, 


that,  one  day,  one  of  them  dared  an  opposition  to  the 
new  authority.  Lafitte  drew  a  pistol  and  shot  him 
through  the  heart,  before  the  whole  band. 

Although  during  the  embargo  of  1808,  Lafitte  opened 
a  shop  on  Royal  street  and  assumed  the  insignia  of 
legitimate  trade,  there  was  no  serious  attempt  to  deceive 
any  one.  lie  took  and  gave  orders  for  merchandise  at 
Barataria,  as  he  would  have  done  for  Philadelphia.  As 


194  NEW  ORLEANS. 

a  business  venture  his  scheme  became  so  brilliant  a  suc- 
cess that  it  made  its  own  propaganda  ;  and  it,  not  the 
law,  became  a  converting  power  in  the  community. 

It  was  in  1813  that  the  Baratarians  reached  such  a 
pinnacle  of  prosperity  that  not  only  the  United  States 
felt  its  loss  of  revenue,  but  the  shipping  in  the  port 
diminished,  commerce  languished,  and  the  banks 
weakened  under  the  continual  lessening  of  their  de- 
posits from  the  draining  off  of  the  trade  to  Barataria. 
There  the  blue  waters  of  the  bay  were  ever  gay  with 
the  sails  of  incoming  and  out-going  vessels  ;  there  the 
landing-places  bustled  and  swarmed  with  activity,  and 
capacious  warehouses  stood  ever  gorged  with  merchan- 
dise, and  the  cargoes  of  slaves  multiplied,  for  the  con- 
traband slavers  were  always  the  keenest  of  the  patrons 
of  Barataria.  The  farms,  orange  groves,  and  gardens  of 
the  family  homes  of  the  privateers  transformed  Grande 
Terre  and  the  islands  around  the  Grand  Pass  into  a 
pastoral  beauty  which,  with  the  marvellous  witchery 
overhead  and  about,  of  cloud  and  sea-colouring,  might 
be  truly  called  heavenly.  A  fleet  of  barges  plied  un- 
ceasingly through  the  maze  of  bayous  between  the 
LaFourche  and  the  Mississippi  ;  under  cover  of  night 
their  loads  were  ferried  over  the  river  and  delivered 
to  agents  in  New  Orleans  and  in  Donaldsonville,  the 
distributing  point  for  the  upper  river  country,  and  for 
the  Attakapas  region.  And,  en  passant,  as  there  must, 
in  every  place  and  time,  be  a  form  of  suspicion  against 
the  purity  of  rapid  money  making,  many  a  notable 
fortune  of  that  day  was  attributed  to  an  underhand 
connection  with  Lafitte.  So  perfect  had  the  system 
and  discipline  become  under  Lafitte's  extraordinary 
executive  ability,  that  it  was  a  mere  question  of  time 


NEW  ORLEANS.  195 

when  he  would  hold  in  his  hands  the  monopoly  of  the 
import  trade  of  Louisiana,  and,  in  a  great  measure,  that 
of  the  entire  Mississippi  Valley. 

The  national  government  made  several  attempts  to 
assert  its  authority,  but  the  few  seizures  it  made  dam- 
aged the  privateers  very  little,  if  it  did  not  benefit 
them  directly  by  advancing  the  prices  of  the  goods  that 
escaped.  Every  now  and  then  a  revenue  cutter  was 
sent  to  surprise  Barataria,  but  it  always  found  that  a 
timely  warning  had  preceded  it,  and  not  a  trace  was  to 
be  discovered  of  the  rich  booty  expected.  And  as  each 
expedition  returned  discomfited,  the  government  agents 
themselves  began  to  be  suspected  of  a  secret  partner- 
ship with  Lafitte. 

During  the  spring  of  1813  the  scandalous  notoriety 
of  the  prosperity  of  the  Baratarians  drew  from  Gov- 
ernor Claiborne  a  proclamation  against  them.  He 
qualified  the  business  roundly  as  piracy,  and  cautioned 
the  people  of  the  state  against  any  commerce  with  it. 
But  the  governor  only  gained  the  experience  of  the 
na'ive  in  attempting  the  unpopular  experiment  of  raising 
public  morality  to  a  personal  standard  No  one  paid 
so  little  attention  to  his  proclamation  as  the  Lafittes 
themselves.  They  made  their  appearance  in  the  streets 
as  unconcernedly  as  usual,  surrounded  as  usual  by  ad- 
miring friends ;  their  names  appeared  as  usual  among 
the  patrons  of  the  public  entertainments,  and,  as  usual, 
auctions  of  slaves  and  goods  were  advertised  to  take 
place  at  Barataria. 

During  the  summer  the  British  patrol  of  the  Gulf 
tried  a  hand  against  the  Baratarians.  One  of  its 
sloops  of  war  attacked  two  privateers  at  anchor  off 
Ship  Island;  but  it  met  with  such  a  spirited  reception, 


196  NEW  ORLEANS. 

and  suffered  such  loss,  that  it  was  glad  to  beat  a  retreat 
with  all  haste,  the  prestige  as  ever  remaining  with  the 
privateers. 

Claiborne  launched  another  proclamation,  offering  a 
reward  of  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Lafitte 
and  his  delivery  to  the  sheriff  of  the  parish  prison,  or 
to  any  sheriff  in  the  state.  Notwithstanding  this,  the 
cargoes  of  the  privateers'  prizes  and  slaves,  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  at  one  time,  were  still  auctioned  at 
Grand  Terre,  and  still  the  goods  were  delivered  in  city 
and  country.  The  agents  went  now,  however,  well 
armed,  for  although  Lafitte  deprecated  and  deplored 
violence,  force  was  met  with  force,  and  in  one  attempt 
to  execute  the  law,  a  revenue  collector  had  one  of  his 
men  killed  and  two  wounded. 

The  governor,  owning  himself  baffled,  appealed  to 
the  legislature,  then  in  session,  to  take  some  measures 
to  vindicate  the  outraged  law  of  the  State  and  of  the 
national  government.  He  asked  the  necessary  author- 
ity and  appropriation  to  raise  a  volunteer  company  to 
send  against  Barataria.  Lafitte  only  strengthened  his 
guards,  and  made  his  deliveries  with  his  wonted  ex- 
actitude. His  confidence  in  the  legislature  seemed 
well  founded.  They  deferred  all  action  in  the  matter 
for  want  of  funds. 

The  governor  then,  as  the  only  satisfaction  possible, 
secured  the  criminal  prosecution  of  his  adversaries. 
Indictments  for  piracy  were  found  against  Jean  Lafitte 
and  the  Baratarians  ;  and  Pierre  Lafitte,  charged  with 
being  an  aider  and  abettor,  was  arrested  in  New  Orleans 
and  lodged  in  the  Calaboose  without  bail. 

Jean  Lafitte  snapped  his  fingers  at  this,  by  retaining 
at  a  fee  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  apiece,  two  of  the 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


197 


most  distinguished  members  of  the  bar,  for  his  defence; 
Edward  Livingston  and  John  R.  Grymes.  Grymes,  at 
the  time,  was  district  attorney,  but  he  resigned  his 
office  for  the  fee,  and  when  his  successor  taunted  him 
in  open  court  with  having  been  seduced  out  of  the 
path  of  honour  and  duty  by  the  blood-stained  gold  of 
pirates,  Grymes  defended  his  honour  by  sending  his 
arraigner  a  challenge,  shooting  him  through  the  hip  and 
crippling  him  for  life. 

When  the  two  eminent  counsellors  had  cleared  their 


client,  and  brushed  the  cobwebs  of  the  law  out  of  his 
future  path  for  him,  Lafitte  invited  them  to  visit  him 
at  Barataria,  and  personally  receive  their  honorarium. 
Grymes,  a  Virginian,  an  easy  moralist  and  adventurous, 
accepted  readily  and  heartily ;  Livingston,  the  conven- 
tionally correct  New  Yorker,  excused  himself,  deputing 
his  colleague,  at  ten  per  cent  commission,  to  collect 
his  fee  for  him.  Old  diners-out  of  the  time  say  that 
it  was  ever  afterwards  one  of  Mr.  Grymes's  most  delec- 


198  NEW  ORLEANS. 

table  post-prandial  stories,  the  description  of  his  trip  to 
Barataria,  and  the  princely  hospitality  of  the  innocent, 
persecuted  Baratarians.  Lafitte  kept  him  through  a 
week  of  epicurean  feasting  and  conducted  him  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  in  a  superb  yawl,  laden  with 
boxes  of  Spanish  gold  and  silver.  "  What  a  mis- 
nomer," Grymes  would  exclaim,  "to  call  the  most 
polished  gentlemen  in  the  world  pirates !  "  Par  pa- 
renth£se,  there  is  always  added  to  this  the  reminiscence, 
that  by  the  time  Mr.  Grymes  reached  the  city,  running 
the  gauntlet  of  the  hospitality  of  the  planters  of  the 
lower  coast,  and  of  their  card-tables,  not  a  cent  of  his 
fee  remained  to  him. 

Whether  prompted  by  a  hint  from  his  counsel,  or 
by  his  own  confidence  in  the  inflexibility  of  Governor 
Claiborne's  purpose  against  him,  Lafitte  was  preparing 
to  change  his  base  and  establish  his  Barataria  in  some 
more  secure  coast,  when  his  good  fortune  threw  another 
rare  opportunity  across  his  path. 

On  an  early  September  morning  of  1814,  Barataria 
was  startled  by  a  cannon-shot  from  the  Gulf.  Lafitte 
darting  in  his  four-oared  barge  through  the  pass,  saw 
just  outside  in  the  Gulf  a  jaunty  brig  flying  the  British 
colours.  A  gig,  with  three  officers  in  uniform,  imme- 
diately advanced  from  her  side  towards  him,  and  the 
officers  introduced  themselves  as  the  bearers  of  impor- 
tant despatches  to  Mr.  Lafitte. 

Lafitte,  making  himself  known,  invited  them  ashore, 
and  led  the  way  to  his  apartments.  The  description  of 
the  entertainment  that  followed  vies  with  that  of  Mr. 
Grymes.  It  was  such  as  no  one  but  Lafitte  knew  how 
to  give,  and,  without  irony,  no  one  could  afford  to  give 
so  well  as  himself,  —  the  choicest  wines  of  Spain  and 


NEW  ORLEANS.  199 

France,  tropical  fruits,  game,  and  the  most  tempting 
varieties  of  Gulf  fish,  all  served  in  the  costliest  silver. 
And  the  host  displayed  as  lavishly  all  the  incomparable 
grace  and  charm  of  manner  and  brilliancy  of  conversa- 
tion which,  among  the  appreciative  people  of  Louisi- 
ana, had  been  accepted  as  legal  tender  for  moral  dues. 
Over  the  cigars,  the  rarest  of  Cuban  brands,  the  packet 
of  despatches  was  opened.  The  letter  addressed  to  Mr. 
Lafitte,  of  Barataria,  from  the  British  commander  at 
Pensacola,  contained,  without  periphrase,  an  offer  to 
Lafitte  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  payable  in  Pensacola 
or  New  Orleans,  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  British  army, 
and  the  enlistment  of  his  men  in  the  navy,  if  he  would 
assist  the  English  in  their  proposed  invasion  of  Louisi- 
ana. Enclosed  with  the  letter  was  a  printed  proclama- 
tion addressed  to  the  natives  of  Louisiana,  calling  upon 
them  to  "  arise  and  aid  in  liberating  their  paternal  soil 
from  a  faithless  and  imbecile  government." 

Lafitte,  affecting  to  consider  the  proposition,  asked 
permission  to  go  and  consult  an  old  friend  and  associate 
whose  vessel,  he  said,  was  then  lying  in  the  Bay.  Dur- 
ing his  absence,  a  band  of  Baratariaris,  who  had  been  on 
watch,  seized  the  officers  and  carried  them  to  a  strong 
place,  where  they  were  kept  prisoners,  under  guard,  all 
night.  The  next  morning  Lafitte  returned,  and  with 
good  dramatic  surprise  was  loud  in  indignant  blame  of 
his  men ;  releasing  the  officers,  instantly  with  profuse 
apologies,  he  escorted  them  himself  through  the  pass, 
and  left  them  safe  aboard  their  brig. 

But  the  English  letter  and  proclamation  were  already 
on  their  way  to  a  friend,  a  member  of  the  legislature, 
with  an  epistle  conceived  in  the  privateer  chief's  best 
style  :  - 


200  NEW  ORLEANS. 

"  Though  proscribed  in  my  adopted  country,  I  will  never  miss 
an  opportunity  of  serving  her  or  of  proving  that  she  has  never 
ceased  to  be  dear  to  me.  ...  I  may  have  evaded  the  payment  of 
duties  to  the  custom  house,  but  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  a  good 
citizen,  and  all  the  offences  I  have  committed  have  been  forced 
upon  me  by  certain  vices  of  the  law.  .  .  .  Our  enemies  have  en- 
deavoured to  work  upon  me  by  a  motive  which  few  men  would 
have  resisted.  ...  A  brother  in  irons,  a  brother  who  is  very  dear 
to  me  and  whose  deliverer  I  might  become;  and  I  declined  the 
proposal,  well  persuaded  of  his  innocence.  .  .  ." 

He  did  his  brother  and  himself  injustice.  Pierre 
Lafitte,  as  Jean  knew,  had  long  since  given  leg-bail, 
the  other  having  been  refused  him,  and  was  even  then 
enjoying  his  wonted  security  and  comfort  in  New 
Orleans. 

A  few  days  later  Lafitte  sent,  in  a  second  letter  to 
his  friend,  an  anonymous  communication  from  Havana, 
giving  important  information  about  the  intended  opera- 
tions of  the  British.  He  also  enclosed  a  letter  to  Gov- 
ernor Claiborne  :  "  In  the  firm  persuasion,"  he  wrote, 
"that  the  choice  made  of  you  to  fill  the  office  of  first 
magistrate  of  this  city  was  dictated  by  the  esteem  of 
your  fellow  citizens,  and  was  conferred  on  merit,  I  offer 
to  you  to  restore  to  this  State  several  citizens  who  per- 
haps in  your  eyes  have  lost  their  sacred  title.  I  offer 
you  them,  however,  such  as  you  would  wish  to  find  them, 
ready  to  exert  their  utmost  efforts  in  defence  of  their 
country.  .  .  .  The  only  reward  I  ask  ...  is  that  a 
stop  be  put  to  the  proscription  against  me  and  my  ad- 
herents, by  an  act  of  oblivion  for  all  that  has  been  done 
hitherto.  ...  I  am  the  stray  sheep  wishing  to  return 
to  the  sheep-fold.  If  you  were  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  nature  of  my  offences,  I  should  appear  to 
you  much  less  guilty  and  still  worthy  to  discharge  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  201 

duties  of  a  good  citizen.  .  .  .  Should  your  answer  not 
be  favourable  to  my  ardent  desires,  I  declare  to  you 
that  I  shall  instantly  leave  the  country,  to  avoid  the 
imputation  of  having  co-operated  toward  an  invasion 
on  this  point,  which  cannot  fail  to  take  place,  and  to 
rest  secure  in  the  acquittal  of  my  own  conscience."  The 
governor,  to  whom  the  entire  correspondence  was  for- 
warded, submitted  it  to  a  council  of  the  principal  officers 
of  the  army,  navy,  and  militia  ;  they  recommended  no 
intercourse  nor  correspondence  whatever  with  any  of 
the  people.  Governor  Claiborne  alone  dissented. 

One  of  the  many  Lafitte  episodes,  transmitted  through 
feminine  memories  of  the  time,  may  be  inserted  here. 
It  was  related  by  a  grandmother,  whose  grandmother 
lived  on  a  plantation  through  which  Lafitte,  called  by 
her  a  flibustier,  always  passed  on  his  route  between  Bara- 
taria  and  New  Orleans  ;  and  he  seldom  passed  without 
taking  supper  with  Madame  :  "  I  assure  you  he  was  a 
fascinating  gentleman  of  fine  appearance,  and  although 
described  by  the  Americans  as  a  pirate,  was  in  reality  a 
privateer,  furnished  with  letters  of  marque  from  the 
French  government.  The  fact  that  my  grandmother 
received  him  as  a  friend,  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  any 
doubts  as  to  his  qualifications.  The  very  day  of  Clai- 
borne's  proclamation  putting  a  price  upon  Lafitte's 
head,  in  fact  it  was  a  reward  for  his  arrest,  he  made  his 
appearance  at  the  plantation  of  my  grandmother.  She, 
with  extreme  agitation  and  anxiety,  told  him  of  the 
governor's  act.  'You  must  not  go  to  the  city.  You 
must  return  at  once  after  supper.  Your  life,  I  tell  you 
it's  your  life  that  is  in  danger.'  Lafitte  laughed  her 
fears  to  scorn.  In  the  midst  of  her  arguments  and  his 
gay  expostulations,  the  servant  announced  another  ar- 


202  NEW  ORLEANS. 

rival,  another  guest.  My  grandmother  turned  her 
head,  and  at  the  instant  was  embraced  by  her  most 
intimate  friend,  Mrs.  Claiborne,  the  wife  of  the  gov- 
ernor, the  most  beautiful  of  Creoles,  the  most  coquet- 
tish, the  most  charming  woman  in  the  city.  In  great 
perplexity,  but  conquering  nevertheless  all  traces  of 
it,  my  grandmother,  with  quick  presence  of  mind, 
introduced  Monsieur  Lafitte  as  Monsieur  Clement,  and 
then  hurriedly  went  out  of  the  room,  leaving  her  guests 
together.  She  called  Henriette,  her  confidential  ser- 
vant. '  Henriette,'  she  said,  looking  straight  into  the 
eyes  of  the  devoted  negress,  '  Henriette,  Governor  Clai- 
borne has  put  a  price  upon  M.  Lafitte's  head.  Any  one 
who  takes  him  prisoner  and  carries  him  to  the  gov- 
ernor will  receive  five  hundred  dollars,  and  M.  Lafitte's 
head  will  be  cut  off.  Send  all  the  other  servants  away, 
all  the  children.  Do  you  set  the  table  and  wait  upon 
us  yourself  alone,  and  remember  to  call  Monsieur 
Lafitte  Monsieur  Clement — Monsieur  Clement,  and  be 
careful  before  Madame  Claiborne.'  The  woman  re- 
sponded as  was  expected  of  her,  and  acted  with  perfect 
tact  and  discretion. 

"  The  supper  passed  off  brilliantly.  The  beautiful, 
fascinating  woman  instantaneously  made  an  impression 
on  the  no  less  handsome  and  fascinating  man,  who 
never  appeared  bolder,  more  original,  more  sure  of 
himself.  The  repartees  were  sparkling,  the  laughter 
continuous,  the  conversation  full  of  entrain,  and  so 
pleasing  to  both  as  to  render  them  oblivious  of  all 
my  grandmother's  efforts  to  put  an  end  to  the  meal. 
And  afterwards  she  could  not  separate  the  new  ac- 
quaintances until  late  bedtime. 

" '  My    friend,'    she    then   said    to    Lafitte,    '  return, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  203 

return  immediately.  Indeed,  your  life  is  in  danger. 
Go  where  you  can  defend  yourself.' ' 

Lafitte  promised  and  took  his  leave,  but  it  was 
always  supposed  that  he  spent  the  night  on  the  plan- 
tation, held  by  the  glamour  of  the  presence  of  the 
wife  of  the  governor,  his  great  enemy. 

The  next  day,  Madame  Claiborne  returned  to  the 
city,  voluble  in  praise  of  the  most  remarkable  man 
she  had  ever  met  as  she  called  him.  She  was  sitting 
in  her  boudoir,  which  opened  on  the  corridor  leading 
into  her  husband's  office,  when  raising  her  eyes  from  her 
sewing  at  the  sound  of  a  step,  she  there  saw  passing 
the  object  of  her  thoughts,  her  conquest  of  the  even- 
ing before.  "  Ah  !  Monsieur,  I  am  charmed  to  meet 
you.  ..."  After  a  moment's  effusion  on  both  sides, 
he  asked  permission  to  go  into  her  husband's  office. 
"  Certainly,  Monsieur,  certainly."  She  led  the  way 
herself,  and,  piqued  by  curiosity,  she  remained  not 
out  of  eyesight  or  earshot  of  the  interview. 

On  crossing  the  threshold,  Lafitte  put  his  hands 
to  a  concealed  belt,  and  drew  two  pistols,  cocked 
them,  and  holding  them  in  readiness,  introduced  him- 
self :  - 

"Sir,  I  am  Lafitte." 

"Sir.   .  .  ." 

"  One  moment,  Sir.  You  have  put  a  price  upon  my 
head." 

"  Upon  the  head  of  a  pirate." 

"  Wait,  Sir,  I  have  come  voluntarily  to  you,  to  make 
a  personal  offer  of  my  services  in  repelling  the  British. 
I  have  a  company  of  men,  brave,  disciplined,  armed, 
and  true  to  the  death.  Will  the  State  accept  of  their 
services  against  the  enemy  or  not  ?  " 


204  NEW  ORLEANS. 

The  governor  looked  at  the  man,  and  considered. 
Madame  Claiborne  who,  as  you  may  believe,  had  rushed 
in  from  the  corridor,  was  standing  by  her  husband, 
darting  her  brilliant  black  eyes  anxiously  from  his  face 
to  that  of  her  handsome  conquest. 

"  Sir,"  said  the  governor,  "  I  accept." 

"  The  men,  Sir,  will  at  daylight  to-morrow  be  await- 
ing your  orders  at  Madame 's  plantation." 

Saluting  deferentially,  he  walked  proudly  out  of  the 
room. 

At  that  very  time,  as  it  happened,  the  national 
government  had  at  last  managed  to  organize  an  expe- 
dition against  Barataria,  which  had  some  prospect  of 
success.  It  was  commanded  by  Commodore  Patterson 
of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  and  Colonel  Ross,  of  the  army, 
stationed  at  New  Orleans,  awaiting  the  British  inva- 
sion, and  they,  the  gossip  goes,  were  lured  to  energy 
by  the  glittering  booty  of  gold  and  silver  and  precious 
treasures  known  to  be  at  the  pirates'  retreat. 

Supposing  that  the  military  and  naval  preparations 
were  intended  for  the  British,  the  Baratarians  were  for 
once  completely  surprised.  Only  the  two  Lafittes  and 
a  few  followers  escaped,  fleeing  to  the  German  coast, 
where  they  found  refuge.  The  settlement  at  Barataria 
was  destroyed,  and  the  two  United  States  officers 
returned  to  New  Orleans  in  triumph,  with  a  large 
number  of  prisoners,  who  were  lodged  in  the  Cala- 
boose, and  a  fleet  of  vessels  loaded  with  the  rich 
spoils,  which  they  claimed  as  prizes.  In  the  booty 
was  some  jewelry  which  was  identified  as  the  property 
of  a  Creole  lady  who  had  sailed  from  New  Orleans 
seven  years  before,  and  had  never  been  heard  of  after- 
wards. This  circumstantial  evidence  was  the  only 


NEW   ORLEANS.  205 

proof  ever  produced  that  a  rigid  line  had  not  always 
been  drawn  between  piracy  and  privateering  by  the 
Baratarians. 

When  Lafitte's  letters,  documents,  and  offer  were 
forwarded  to  General  Jackson,  then  at  Mobile,  he 
spurned  them  with  scorn,  having  already  by  procla- 
mation denounced  the  British  for  their  overtures  to 
"robbers,  pirates,  and  hellish  bandits."  Nevertheless, 
on  the  General's  arrival  in  New  Orleans,  Jean  Lafitte 
waited  on  him  in  person,  and  firmly  renewed  his  offer. 
By  this  time  Jackson  was  conscious  of  the  feebleness 
of  the  resources  at  hand  to  defend  the  country,  and  the 
strength  of  the  armament  coming  against  it ;  and  he 
saw  the  man.  The  offer  was  accepted.  Jackson's  gen- 
eral orders  of  the  21st  of  January,  1815,  after  his  vic- 
tory, give  the  sequel  :  — 

"  Captains  Dominique  and  Beluche,  lately  commanding  priva- 
teers at  Barataria,  with  part  of  their  former  crews  .  .  .  were 
stationed  at  batteries  Nos.  3  and  4.  The  General  cannot  avoid 
giving  his  warm  approbation  of  the  manner  in  which  these 
gentlemen  have  uniformly  conducted  themselves  while  under  his 
command,  and  the  gallantry  with  which  they  redeemed  the  pledge 
they  gave  at  the  opening  of  the  campaign,  to  defend  the  country. 
The  brothers  Lafitte  have  exhibited  the  same  courage  and  fidel- 
ity, and  the  General  promises  that  the  government  shall  be  duly 
apprized  of  their  conduct." 

On  the  part  of  the  government,  so  apprised,  the 
President,  in  his  message  on  the  Battle  of  New 
Orleans,  issued  a  full  and  free  pardon  "to  the  viola- 
tors of  revenue,  trade,  and  commerce  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Island  of  Barataria,"  concluding  handsomely, 
as  became  the  President  of  the  United  States  after  so 
glorious  a  victory:  — 


206 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


"  Offenders  who  have  refused  to  become  the 
associates  of  the  enemy  in  war  upon  the  most 
seducing  terms  of  invitation,  and  who  have 
aided  to  repel  his  hostile  invasion  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States,  can  no  longer  be 
considered  as  objects  of  punishment,  but  as 
objects  of  generous  forgiveness." 

During  the  rejoicings  and  festivities 
over  the  victory  the  two  Lafittes  made 
a  last  brief  appearance  in  the  social 
life  of  the  city,  in  token  of  which 
there  are  two  anecdotes.  In  an  affair 
of  honour  between  two  noted  citizens, 
Pierre  Lafitte  was  selected  as  the 
second  by  the  one,  M.  de  St.  Gerae 
by  the  other.  The  latter,  who  had 
distinguished  himself  during  the  re- 
cent campaign  as  captain  of  one  of  the 
Creole  companies,  had  no  social  supe- 
rior in  the  city,  and  on  points  of 
honour  was  looked  upon  by  the  whole 
population  as  a  Chevalier  Bayard. 
His  consenting,  therefore,  to  act  with 
Lafitte,  was  accepted  as  recognition, 
ample  and  complete,  of  the  hitter's 
social  rehabilitation.  At  a  ball  given 
by  the  officers  of  the  army,  General 
Coffee  and  Jean  Lafitte  were  both 
among  the  guests.  On  their  being 
brought  together  and  introduced, 
General  Coffee  showed  some  uncer- 
tainty, or  hesitation,  of  manner.  The 
Baratarian,  lifting  his  head  and  ad- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  207 

vancing  haughtily,  repeated  with  emphasis,    "  Lafitte, 
the  pirate." 

At  this  propitious  moment,  the  Lafittes  left  New 
Orleans  forever,  and  nothing  so  well  as  this  leaving  of 
it  proves  their  verbal  assurances  of  love  for  the  city, 
and  their  desire  to  stand  well  in  the  estimation  of  the 
community.  They  formed  a  settlement  at  Galvezton, 
and,  under  letters  of  marque  from  some  South  Amer- 
ican state,  they  preyed,  for  a  brief  space,  right  roy- 
ally upon  the  commerce  of  Spain.  Summoned  by  the 
United  States  to  produce  the  national  authority  by 
which  he  occupied  the  harbour  of  Galvezton,  Lafitte 
answered  that  he  had  found  the  port  abandoned,  and 
had  taken  possession  of  it  with  the  idea  of  preserving 
and  maintaining  it  at  his  own  cost.  His  words  are  not 
unworthy  quotation  :  — 

"  In  so  doing  I  was  satisfying  the  two  passions  which  impe- 
riously predominate  in  rne ;  that  of  offering  an  asylum  to  the 
armed  vessels  of  the  party  of  independence,  and  of  placing  myself 
in  position  (considering  its  proximity  to  the  U.  S.)  to  fly  to  their 
assistance  should  circumstances  demand  it.  ...  I  know,  Sir, 
that  I  have  been  calumniated  in  the  vilest  manner  by  persons  in- 
vested with  certain  authority,  but,  fortified  by  a  conscience  which 
is  irreproachable  in  every  respect,  my  internal  tranquility  has  not 
been  affected,  and,  in  spite  of  my  enemies,  I  shall  obtain  the 
justice  due  me." 

Shortly  afterwards,  a  United  States  cruiser  having 
been  attacked  in  the  Gulf  and  robbed  of  a  large  sum  of 
money,  the  Galvezton  settlement  was  broken  up.  Be- 
yond a  stray  indication  that  they  were  going  to  attach 
themselves  to  the  government  of  Buenos  Ayres,  noth- 
ing further  is  definitely  known,  of  the  Lafittes.  But 
tradition  still  cherishes  them,  and  there  has  been  no 


208 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


lack  of  stories  about  their  after  career.  Until  1821. 
pirates  were  the  terror  of  the  Gulf,  and  every  pirate 
was  feared  as  a  Lalitte;  and,  without  any  apparent 
authority  whatever,  it  is  still  fondly  believed  that  the 
beautiful  Theodosia,  the  daughter  of  Aaron  Burr,  who 
met  an  unknown  fate  in  the  open  seas,  was  made  to 
walk  the  plank  under  his  command. 


About  1820,  a  United  States  revenue  cutter,  after  a 
rattling  engagement,  captured  a  pirate  schooner,  with 
her  prize,  in  the  lakes.  They  were  carried  through 
the  Bayou  St.  John,  to  New  Orleans.  The  crew  were 
tried,  and  three  of  them  hanged  in  the  Place  d'Armes, 
as  the  oldest  inhabitant  of  not  so  long  ago  saw,  and 
ever  afterwards  loved  to  tell  about. 

Dominique  You  held  to  his  regenerated  citizenship 


NEW  ORLEANS.  209 

in  New  Orleans.  When  Jackson  paid  his  ever  mem- 
orable visit  to  the  city  seven  years  after  the  battle, 
one  of  his  first  inquiries  was  for  his  friend  Dominique, 
and  it  is  said  that  no  feature  of  that  triumphal  re-cele- 
bration more  gratified  him  than  the  breakfast  given 
him,  with  true  privateer's  hospitality  and  cheer,  by 
the  whilom  "  hellish  bandit." 

When,  after  a  rare  old  age,  Dominique  You  died, 
he  had  a  funeral  procession  which,  for  years,  was  a 
local  standard  for  size  and  impressiveness.  His  tomb 
can  be  seen  in  one  of  the  St.  Louis  cemeteries,  and 
if  one  doubts  the  virtues,  respectability,  of  Dominique, 
or  General  Jackson's  esteem  for  him,  one  can  do  no 
better  to  fortify  one's  convictions  than  make  a  pilgrim- 
age to  his  tomb  and  read  his  epitaph.  It  is  from  no 
less  source  than  Voltaire  and  "  La  Henriade:  "  — 

"  Intrepide  guerrier,  sur  la  terre  et  sur  1'onde, 

II  sut,  dans  cent  combats,  signaler  sa  valeur 
Et  ce  nouveau  Bayard,  sans  reproche  et  sans  peur 
Aurait  pu  sans  trembler,  voir  s'ecrouler  le  monde." 

Captain  Beluche,  who  was  a  Creole  by  birth,  passed 
into  the  service  of  Venezuela,  as  commander  of  her 
navy. 

The  Baratari.ans  drifted  back  to  their  old  haunts, 
became  fishermen  and  oyster  men  ;  and,  bandits  though 
they  ever  appeared  in  face  and  dress,  peddled  their 
Gulf  delicacies  peaceably  enough  through  the  streets  of 
the  city  to  the  cry  of  "  Barataria!  Barataria!  "  Their 
descendants  still  live  in  the  "  Chenieres,"  a  hardy, 
handsome  race  of  men  and  women,  speaking  a  strange 
mixture  of  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  French.  Over 
and  over  again,  cyclonic  Gulf  storms  have  swept  them 


210 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


with  their  habitations,  a  wild  ruin  of  drift  and  corpses, 
far  out  into  the  Gulf ;  and  over  and  over  again  they 
have  seemed  to  resurrect ;  a  year  or  two  and  Barataria 
would  be  once  more  peopled  and  rebuilt. 

Lafcadio  Hearn  describes  the  Grand  Terre  of  to-day, 
"  a  wilderness  of  wind-swept  grasses  and  sinewy  reeds 
waving  away  from  a  thin  beach,  ever  speckled  with 
drift  and  decaying  things  ;  — wormriddled  timbers  and 
dead  porpoises.  Sometimes,  of  Autumn  evenings,  when 
the  hollow  of  heaven  flares  like  the  interior  of  a  chalice, 
and  waves  and  clouds  are  flying  in  one  wild  rout  of 
broken  gold,  you  may  see  the  tawny  grasses  all  covered 
with  something  like  husks.  .  .  .  But  if  you  approach, 
those  pale  husks  will  break  open  to  display  strange 
splendours  of  scarlet  and  seal  brown  with  arabesque 
mottlings  in  white  and  black ;  they  change  into  won- 
drous living  blossoms,  which  .  .  .  rise  in  the  air  and 
flutter  away  by  thousands  to  settle  down  farther  off, 
and  turn  again  into  wheat-covered  husks  once  more 
...  a  whirling  flower  drift  of  sleepy  butterflies." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE   GLORIOUS    EIGHTH   OF   JANUARY. 

TN  the  early  summer  of  1814,  the  reverberating  news 
-L  of  the  fall  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  and  of  his  abdi- 
cation at  Fontainebleau,  shook  the  city  to  its  founda- 
tions ;  and  the  first  instinctive  impulse  of  the  people 
was  a  passionate  outbreak  of  love  to  the  mother  coun- 
try. The  city  became  French  as  it  had  not  been  since 
the  days  of  Ulloa.  Popular  feeling  frenzied  and  raved 
in  talk.  In  the  family,  in  the  coffee-houses,  in  the  new 
exchanges,  the  refugees  from  every  nation  and  every 
political  party,  the  new  Americans  and  the  ancient 
Louisianians,  as  they  were  called,  assembled  in  their 
different  coteries,  to  throw,  very  much  as  they  do  now, 

211 


212  NEW   ORLEANS. 

their  tempers,  prejudices,  and  passions  into  political 
opinions. 

There  was  no  doubt  that  victorious  England,  her 
hands  at  last  liberated,  would  give  the  United  States 
a  demonstration  more  characteristic  of  her  military 
ability  than  she  had  exhibited  up  to  this  time  in  the 
war  between  them.  The  report  came  that,  as  a  condi- 
tion of  peace  with  France,  England  would  demand  the 
retrocession  of  Louisiana  to  Spain,  who  had  indignantly 
protested  at  Napoleon's  sharp  sale  of  it  to  the  United 
States  ;  and,  trailing  after  this  report,  came  from 
Spanish  officers  in  Havana  and  Pensacola,  to  friends  in 
Louisiana,  and  even  from  the  governor  of  Pensacola, 
and  from  the  Spanish  minister  in  Washington,  expres- 
sions of  belief  that  Spain  would  take  up  arms  to  re- 
possess herself  of  her  former  colony. 

Hardly  had  this  been  digested  colloquially,  when 
tidings  arrived  of  the  presence  of  British  ships  in  the 
Gulf,  and  the  landing  of  British  regulars  at  Pensacola 
and  Apalachicola,  where,  with  the  passive,  if  not  active, 
assistance  of  the  Spanish  authorities,  they  were  rallying 
the  Indians,  enlisting  and  uniforming  them  into  com- 
panies. Then  came  Lafitte's  communications  from 
Barataria. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  if  ever  there  were  dreams 
to  give  a  city  pause,  New  Orleans  had  them  then  and 
there.  Even  now  one  is  chary  of  publishing  all  the 
national  weaknesses  that,  in  this  crucial  moment,  the 
city's  examination  of  conscience  revealed.  There  were 
no  friends  of  England  in  the  community,  but  there 
were  many  and  ardent  ones  of  Spain,  and  as  for  the 
French  Creoles,  the  United  States  had  been  at  best,  in 
their  eyes,  but  a  churlish  and  grudging  stepmother  to 


NEW  ORLEANS.  213 

Louisiana,  apparently  intent  only  on  getting  back  the 
worth  of  her  money  paid  for  the  colony.  And  besides, 
the  government  at  Washington,  with  its  Capitol  burnt 
and  its  neighbourhood  ravaged  by  a  force  not  one-fourth 
as  large  as  the  one  preparing  against  New  Orleans, 
offered  anything  but  an  inspiring  example.  And  there 
was  slavery.  The  English,  by  a  mere  proclamation  of 
emancipation,  could  array  inside  the  State  against  the 
whites  an  equal  number  of  blacks  and  produce  a 
situation  from  which  the  stoutest  hearts  recoiled  in 
dismay.  The  neighbouring  South  was  too  weak  in 
population  and  resources  to  count  upon  for  any  appre- 
ciable help.  There  was  only  the  one  hope,  but  it  was 
a  good  one,  in  the  West,  the  brawny,  indomitable 
West !  So  long  as  the  Mississippi  flowed  through  its 
great  valley  to  the  Gulf,  New  Orleans  felt  confident 
that  the  West  would  never  leave  her  without  a  com- 
panion in  arms  to  fight  against  foreign  subjugation. 

The  federal  government  stationed  four  companies  of 
regulars  in  the  city,  ordered  out  the  full  quota  of  the 
militia  of  the  State,  one  thousand  men,  to  be  held  in 
readiness,  put  Commodore  Patterson  in  charge  of  the 
naval  defences,  and  appointed  Major-General  Andrew 
Jackson  to  take  command  in  the  threatened  section. 
After  that,  it  washed  its  hands  of  the  whole  affair. 

In  September  the  British  opened  their  campaign,  as 
the  military  quidnuncs  in  the  city  had  predicted  they 
would,  by  an  attack  upon  Fort  Bowyer,  which,  if  taken, 
would  give  them  command  of  Mobile  Bay,  a  solid  posi- 
tion on  the  Gulf,  and  an  invaluable  basis  of  operation 
against  New  Orleans.  But  the  new  general-comman- 
dant, who,  so  far  from  being  a  military  quidnunc,  had 
only  the  military  training  of  rough  and  tumble,  hand 


214 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


to-hand  fighting  with  Indians,  forestalled  the  design  of 
the  British  with  all  the  prescience  of  the  most  practised 
tactician.  He  threw  a  handful  of  men  into  Fort  Bow- 
yer,  one  hundred  and  thirty,  with  twenty  pieces  of 
cannon,  and  these  held  it  against  the  four  British  ships, 
with  their  ninety  guns  and  the  six  hundred  marines,  and 
regulars,  and  two  hundred  Indians  that  came  against  it. 
The  elated  Jackson  sent  the  news  of  this  success  from 


f 

or  .  v;iu. 


Mobile  with  two  ringing  proclamations  to  the  Louisian- 
ians,  one  to  the  white  and  one  to  the  free  coloured 
population,  treating  his  foes  with  fine  and  most  inspir- 
ing contempt  :  — 

"  The  base,  perfidious  Britons  have  attempted  to 
invade  your  country.  They  had  the  temerity  to  attack 
Fort  Bowyer  with  their  incongruous  horde  of  Indians, 
negroes,  and  assassins  ;  they  seem  to  have  forgotten  that 


NEW  ORLEANS.  215 

this  fort  was  defended  by  free  men,"  etc.,  etc.  After 
which,  to  give  the  Spaniards  a  lesson  in  the  laws  of 
neutrality,  he  attacked  and  took  Pensacola. 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  2nd  of  December,  1814, 
as  our  preferred  chronicler  of  this  period,  Alexander 
Walker,  relates  that  General  Jackson  and  escort  trotted 
their  horses  up  the  road  that  leads  from  Spanish  Fort  to 
the  city.  On  arriving  at  the  junction  of  Canal  Caron- 
delet  and  Bayou  St.  John,  the  party  dismounted  before 
an  old  Spanish  villa,  the  residence  of  one  of  the  promi- 
nent bachelor  citizens  of  the  day,  where,  in  the  marble- 
paved  hall,  breakfast  had  been  prepared  for  them;  a 
breakfast  such  as  luxury  then  could  command  from 
Creole  markets  and  cooks,  for  a  guest  whom  one  wished 
to  honour.  But,  the  story  goes,  the  guest  of  honour 
partook,  and  that  sparingly,  only  of  hominy.  This 
reached  a  certain  limit  of  endurance.  At  a  whisper 
from  a  servant,  the  host  excused  himself,  left  the  table 
and  passed  into  the  antechamber.  He  was  accosted  by 
his  fair  friend  and  neighbour,  who  had  volunteered  her 
assistance  for  the  occasion. 

"Ah,  my  friend,  how  could  you  play  such  a  trick 
upon  me?  You  asked  me  to  prepare  your  house  to 
receive  a  great  general.  I  did  so.  And  I  prepared  a 
splendid  breakfast.  And  now  !  I  find  that  my  labour 
is  all  thrown  away  upon  an  old  '  Kaintuck '  flatboatman, 
instead  of  a  great  general  with  plumes,  epaulettes,  long 
sword,  and  moustache." 

Indeed,  to  female  eyes,  trained  upon  a  Galvez,  a 
Carondelet,  a  Casa  Calvo,  Andrew  Jackson  must  have 
represented  indeed  a  very  unsatisfactory  commandant- 
general.  His  dress,  a  small  leathern  cap,  a  short  blue 
Spanish  cloak,  frayed  trousers,  worn  and  rusty  high- 


216  NEW  ORLEANS. 

top  boots,  was  deficient ;  and,  even  for  a  flatboatman, 
threadbare.  But  his  personality,  to  equitable  female 
eyes,  should  have  been  impressive,  if  not  pleasing:  a 
tall,  gaunt,  inflexibly  erect  figure;  a  face  sallow,  it  is 
true,  and  seamed  and  wrinkled  with  the  burden  of  heavy 
thought,  but  expressing  to  the  full  the  stern  decision 
and  restless  energy  which  seemed  the  very  soul  of  the 
man ;  heavy  brows  shaded  his  fierce,  bright  eyes,  and 
iron-grey  hair  bristled  thick  over  his  head. 

From  the  villa  the  party  trotted  up  the  Bayou  road 
to  its  intersection  with  the  city,  where  stood  a  famous 
landmark  in  old  times,  the  residence  of  General  Daniel 
Clarke,  a  great  American  in  the  business  and  political 
world  of  the  time.  Here  carriages  awaited  them  and  a 
formal  delegation  of  welcome,  all  the  notabilities,  civil 
and  military,  the  city  afforded,  headed  by  Governor 
Claiborne  and  the  mayor  of  the  city,  a  group  which, 
measured  by  after  achievements,  could  not  be  considered 
inconsiderable  either  in  number  or  character. 

General  Jackson,  who  talked  as  he  fought,  by  nature, 
and  had  as  much  use  for  fine  words  as  for  fine  clothes, 
answered  the  stately  eloquence  addressed  him,  briefly 
and  to  the  point.  He  had  come  to  protect  the  city, 
and  he  would  drive  the  enemy  into  the  sea  or  perish  in 
the  attempt.  It  was  the  eloquence  for  the  people  and 
the  time.  As  an  interpreter  repeated  the  words  in 
French,  they  passed  from  lip  to  lip,  rousing  all  the 
energy  they  conveyed.  They  sped  with  Jackson's 
carriage,  into  the  city,  where  heroism  has  ever  been 
most  infectious,  and  the  crowd  that  ran  after  him 
through  the  streets,  to  see  him  alight,  and  to  cheer  the 
flag  unfurled  from  his  headquarters  on  Royal  street, 
expressed  not  so  much  the  conviction  that  the  saviour 


NEW  ORLEANS  217 

of  the  city  was  there  in  that  house,  as  that  the  saviour 
of  the  city  was  there,  in  every  man's  soul. 

That  evening  the  "  Kaintuck"  flatboatman  was  again 
subjected  to  the  ordeal  of  woman's  eyes.  A  dinner 
party  of  the  most  fashionable  society  had  already 
assembled  at  a  prominent  and  distinguished  house, 
when  the  host  announced  to  his  wife  that  he  had  invited 
General  Jackson  to  join  them.  She,  as  related  by  a 
descendant,  did  what  she  could  under  the  trying  cir- 
cumstances, and  so  well  prepared  her  guests  for  the 
unexpected  addition  to  their  party,  that  the  ladies  kept 
their  eyes  fixed  upon  the  door,  with  the  liveliest 
curiosity,  expecting  to  see  it  admit  nothing  less  than 
some  wild  man  of  the  woods,  some  curious  specimen  of 
American  Indian,  in  uniform.  When  it  opened  and 
General  Jackson  entered,  grave,  self-possessed,  martial, 
urbane,  their  astonishment  was  not  to  be  gauged. 
When  the  dinner  was  over  and  he  had  taken  his  leave, 
the  ladies  all  exclaimed,  with  one  impulse,  to  the 
hostess  :  "  Is  this  your  red  Indian  !  Is  this  your  wild 
man  of  the  woods  !  He  is  a  prince." 

From  now  on  the  city  was  transformed  into  a  martial 
camp.  Every  man  capable  of  bearing  arms  was  mus- 
tered into  service.  All  the  French  emigres  in  the  com- 
munity volunteered  in  the  ranks,  only  too  eager  for  an- 
other chance  at  the  English.  Prisoners  in  the  Calaboose 
were  released  and  armed.  To  the  old  original  fine  com- 
pany of  freemen  of  colour,  another  was  added,  formed 
of  coloured  refugees  from  St.  Domingo,  men  who  had 
sided  with  the  whites  in  the  revolution  there.  Lafitte, 
notwithstanding  the  breaking  up  and  looting  of  his 
establishment  at  Barataria,  made  good  his  offer  to  the 
State,  by  gathering  his  Baratarians  from  the  Calaboose 


218  NEW  ORLEANS. 

and  their  hiding  places,  and  organizing  them  into  two 
companies  under  the  command  of  Dominique  You  ana 
Beluche.  From  the  parishes  came  hastily  gathered 
volunteers,  in  companies  and  singly.  The  African 
slaves,  catching  the  infection,  laboured  with  might  and 
main  upon  the  fortifications  ordered  by  Jackson,  and 
even  the  domestic  servants,  it  is  recorded,  burnished 
their  masters'  arms  and  prepared  ammunition,  with  the 
ardour  of  patriots.  The  old  men  were  formed  into  a 
home  guard  and  given  the  patrol  of  the  city.  Martial 
law  was  proclaimed.  The  reinforcements  from  the 
neighbouring  territories  arrived :  a  fine  troop  of  horse 
from  Mississippi,  under  the  gallant  Hinds ;  and  Coffee, 
with  his  ever-to-be-remembered  brigade  of  "Dirty 
Shirts,"  who  after  a  march  of  eight  hundred  miles 
answered  Jackson's  message  to  hasten,  by  covering  in 
two  days  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Baton 
Rouge  to  New  Orleans.  At  the  levee,  barges  and  flat- 
boats  landed  the  militia  of  Tennessee,  under  Carroll. 

On  the  10th  of  December,  eight  days  after  Jackson's 
arrival  in  the  city,  the  British  fleet  entered  Lake  Borgne. 
In  the  harbour  of  Ship  Island,  in  the  pass  between  it 
and  Cat  Island,  out  to  Chandeleur  Islands,  as  far  as  the 
spyglass  could  carry,  the  eye  of  the  look-out  saw,  and 
saw  British  sails.  Never  before  had  so  august  a  visita- 
tion honoured  these  distant  waters.  The  very  names  of 
the  ships  and  of  their  commanders  were  enough  to  create 
a  panic.  The  Tonnant,  the  heroic  Tonnant,  of  eighty 
guns,  captured  from  the  French  at  the  battle  of  the 
Nile,  with  Vice-Admiral  Sir  Alexander  Cochrane  and 
Rear-Admiral  Codrington  ;  the  Royal  Oak,  seventy -four 
guns,  Rear-Admiral  Malcolm  ;  the  Ramilies,  under  Sir 
Thomas  Hardy,  Nelson's  friend  ;  the  Norge,  the  Bed- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  219 

ford,  the  Asia,  all  seventy -four  gunners ;  the  Armide, 
Sir  Thomas  Trowbridge;  the  Sea  Horse,  Sir  James 
Alexander  Gordon,  fresh  from  the  banks  of  the  Poto- 
mac,—  there  were  fifty  sail,  in  all  carrying  over  a  thou- 
sand guns,  commanded  by  the  £lite  of  the  British  navy, 
steered  by  West  Indian  pilots,  followed  by  a  smaller 
fleet  of  transports,  sloops,  and  schooners.  It  seemed 
only  proper  that  with  such  ships  and  such  an  army  as 
the  ships  carried,  a  full  and  complete  list  of  civil 
officers  should  be  sent  out,  to  conduct  the  government 
of  the  country  to  be  annexed  to  His  Majesty's  Domin- 
ions, —  revenue  collectors,  printers,  clerks,  with  print- 
ing presses  and  office  paraphernalia.  Merchant  ships 
accompanied  the  squadron  to  carry  home  the  spoils ; 
and  even  many  ladies,  wives  of  the  officers,  came  along 
to  share  in  the  glory  and  pleasure  of  the  expedition. 
"I  expect  at  this  moment,"  remarked  Lord  Castlereagh, 
in  Paris,  almost  at  the  exact  date,  "that  most  of  the 
large  sea-port  towns  of  America  are  laid  in  ashes,  that 
we  are  in  possession  of  New  Orleans,  and  have  command 
of  all  the  rivers  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Lakes, 
and  that  the  Americans  are  now  little  better  than  pris- 
oners in  their  own  country." 

The  city  must  indeed  have  appeared  practically  de- 
fenceless to  any  foe  minded  to  take  it.  There  was  no 
fortification,  properly  speaking,  at  the  Balise.  Fort 
St.  Philip,  on  the  river,  below  the  city,  was  small,  out 
of  repair,  badly  equipped  and  poorly  munitioned. 
Back  of  the  city  there  was  pretty,  picturesque,  Spanish 
Fort,  a  military  bauble ;  a  hasty  battery  had  been 
thrown  up  where  Bayou  Chef  Menteur  joins  Bayou 
Gentilly,  and  further  out,  on  the  Rigolets,  was  the  little 
mud  fort  of  Petites  Coquilles  (now  Fort  Pike).  As 


220  NEW  ORLEANS. 

every  bayou  from  lake  to  river  was,  in  high  water,  a 
high  road  to  the  city,  these  had  been  closed  and  rafted 
by  order  of  the  government,  and,  by  the  same  token, 
Bayou  Manchac  has  remained  closed  ever  since. 

Vice-Admiral  Cochrane  promptly  commenced  his  pro- 
gramme. Forty-five  launches  and  barges,  armed  with 
carronades  and  manned  by  a  thousand  soldiers  and 
sailors,  were  sent  to  clear  the  lakes  of  the  American  flag. 

What  the  Americans  called  their  fleet  on  the  lakes 
consisted  of  six  small  gunboats,  carrying  thirty-five 
guns,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  T.  Ap  Catesby  Jones. 
These  had  been  sent  by  Commodore  Patterson  to  ob- 
serve the  English  fleet,  and  prevent,  if  possible,  the 
landing  of  their  troops.  If  pressed  by  a  superior  force, 
they  were  to  fall  back  through  the  Rigolets,  upon  Fort 
Petites  Coquilles.  In  obeying  his  orders,  Jones  in  vain 
tried  to  beat  through  the  Rigolets,  with  the  current 
against  him ;  his  boats  were  carried  into  the  narrow 
channel  between  Malheureux  Island  and  Point  Clear, 
where  they  stuck  in  the  mud.  Jones  anchored  there- 
fore in  as  close  line  as  he  could  across  the  channel,  and 
after  a  spirited  address  to  his  force  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty-two  men,  awaited  the  attack. 

It  was  about  ten  o'clock  of  a  beautiful  December 
morning.  The  early  fog  lifted  to  show  the  British 
halting  for  breakfast,  gay,  careless,  and  light-hearted 
as  if  on  a  picnic  party.  The  surface  of  the  lake  was 
without  a  ripple,  the  blue  heavens  without  a  cloud.  At 
a  signal  the  advance  was  resumed.  On  the  flotilla  came 
in  the  beautiful  order  and  in  the  perfect  line  and  time 
with  which  the  sturdy  English  oarsmen  had  pulled  it 
through  the  thirty-six  miles  without  pause  or  break, 
from  Ship  Island,  each  boat  with  its  glittering  brass 


NEW  ORLEANS.  221 

carronade  at  its  prow,  its  serried  files  of  scarlet  uni- 
forms and  dazzling  crest  of  bayonets,  and  the  six  oars 
on  each  side,  flashing  in  and  out  of  the  water. 

The  American  boats  lay  silent,  quiet,  apparently  life- 
less. Then,  a  flash,  a  roar,  and  a  shot  went  crashing 
through  the  scarlet  line.  With  an  answer  from  their 
carronades,  the  British  barges  leaped  forward,  and 
clinched  with  the  gunboats.  It  was  musket  to  musket, 
pistol  to  pistol,  cutlass  to  cutlass,  man  to  man,  with 
shouts  and  cries,  taunts  and  imprecations,  and  the 
steady  roar  throughout  of  the  American  cannon,  cut- 
ting with  deadly  aim  into  the  open  British  barges, 
capsizing,  sinking  them;  the  water  spotting  with  strug- 
gling red  uniforms. 

Two  of  the  American  boats  were  captured,  and  their 
guns  turned  against  the  others,  and  the  British  barges 
closing  in,  the  American  crews  one  by  one  were  beaten 
below  their  own  decks  and  overpowered.  By  half-past 
twelve  the  British  flag  waved  triumphant  over  Lake 
Borgne. 

The  British  troops  were  forwarded  in  transports 
from  the  fleet  to  the  He  des  Pois,  near  the  mouth  of 
Pearl  River,  a  bare  little  island  and  a  desolate  camp, 
where,  with  no  tents,  the  men  were  drenched  with  dew, 
and  chilled  with  frosts  during  the  night,  and,  during  the 
day,  parched  with  the  sun  ;  many  died  from  it.  From 
some  fisherman  it  was  learned  that  about  fifty  miles  west 
of  He  aux  Pois  there  was  a  bayou  that  had  not  been 
closed  and  was  not  defended  and  which  was  navigable 
by  barges  for  twelve  miles,  where  it  joined  a  canal, 
leading  to  a  plantation  on  the  river,  a  few  miles  below 
the  city-  To  test  the  accuracy  of  the  information,  Sir 
Alexander  Cochraue  despatched  a  boat  under  charge  of 


222  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  Hon.  Captain  Spencer,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Spencer, 
to  reconnoitre  the  route.  Arrived  at  the  Spanish  fisher- 
men's village  on  the  banks  of  Bayou  Bienvenu,  the 
young  captain  and  a  companion,  disguising  themselves 
in  the  blue  shirts  and  tarpaulins  of  fishermen,  paddled 
in  a  pirogue  through  the  bayou  and  canal  (Villere's), 
walked  to  the  Mississippi,  took  a  drink  of  its  waters, 
surveyed  the  country,  interviewed  some  negroes ;  and 
returned  with  the  report  that  the  route  was  not  only 
practicable,  but  easy. 

Sixteen  hundred  men  and  two  cannon  were  embarked 
immediately  for  the  bayou.  The  sky  was  dark  and  low- 
ering ;  heavy  rains  fell  during  the  whole  day ;  the 
fires  of  charcoal,  which  could  be  kept  burning  in  day- 
light, were  extinguished  at  night  ;  and  the  sharp  frost 
cramped  the  soldiers  into  numbness.  A  detail  sent 
in  advance  on  a  reconnoissance  surprised  and  capt- 
ured four  pickets,  who  were  held  at  the  mouth  of  the 
bayou  until  the  flotilla  came  up  to  it.  One  of  the 
prisoners,  a  Creole  gentleman,  was  presented  to  Sir 
Alexander  Cochrane,  the  British  commander,  a  rough- 
looking,  white-haired  old  gentleman,  dressed  in  plain 
and  much  worn  clothing,  and  to  General  Keane,  a 
tall,  youthful,  black-whiskered  man  in  military  un- 
dress. Their  shrewd  cross-questioning  extracted  from 
the  Creole  only  the  false  statement  that  Jackson's  forces 
in  the  city  amounted  to  twelve  thousand  men,  and  that 
he  had  stationed  four  thousand  at  English  Turn.  As 
the  untruth  had  been  preconcerted,  it  was  confirmed  by 
the  other  prisoners,  and  believed  by  the  British  officers. 

At  dawn  the  barges  entered  the  bayou.  The  Eng- 
lish sailors,  standing  to  their  oars,  pushed  their  heavy 
loads  through  the  tortuous  shallow  water.  By  nine 


NEW  ORLEANS.  223 

o'clock  the  detachment  was  safe  on  shore.  "The 
place,"  writes  the  English  authority,  an  officer  dur- 
ing the  campaign,  "  was  as  wild  as  it  is  possible  to 
imagine.  Gaze  where  we  might,  nothing  could  be 
seen  except  a  huge  marsh  covered  with  tall  reeds. 
The  marsh  became  gradually  less  and  less  continuous, 
being  intersected  by  wide  spots  of  firm  ground  ;  the 
reeds  gave  place  by  degrees  to  wood,  and  the  wood  to 
enclosed  fields." 

The  troops  landed,  formed  into  columns,  and,  push- 
ing after  the  guides  and  engineers,  began  their  march. 
The  advance  was  slow  and  toilsome  enough  to  such 
novices  in  swamping.  But  cypresses,  palmettoes,  cane 
brakes,  vines,  and  mire  were  at  last  worried  through, 
the  sun  began  to  brighten  the  ground,  and  the  front 
ranks  quickening  their  step,  broke  joyfully  into  an 
open  field,  near  the  expected  canal.  Beyond  a  distant 
orange  grove,  the  buildings  of  the  Villere  plantation 
could  be  seen.  Advancing  rapidly  along  the  side  of 
the  canal,  and  under  cover  of  the  orange  grove,  a 
company  gained  the  buildings,  and,  spreading  out,  sur- 
rounded them.  The  surprise  was  absolute.  Major 
Villere  and  his  brother,  sitting  on  the  front  gallery  of 
their  residence,  jumped  from  their  chairs  at  the  sight 
of  redcoats  before  them ;  their  rush  to  the  other  side 
of  the  house  only  showed  them  that  they  were  bagged. 

Secured  in  one  of  his  own  apartments,  under  guard 
of  British  soldiers,  the  young  Creole  officer  found  in 
his  reflections  the  spur  to  a  desperate  attempt  to  save 
himself  and  his  race  from  a  suspicion  of  disloyalty  to 
the  United  States,  which,  under  the  circumstances, 
might  easily  be  directed  against  them  by  the  Ameri- 
cans. Springing  suddenly  through  his  guards,  and 


224  NEW  ORLEANS. 

leaping  from  a  window,  he  made  a  rush  for  the  high 
fence  that  enclosed  the  yard,  throwing  down  the  soldiers 
in  his  way.  He  cleared  the  fence  at  a  bound  and  ran 
across  the  open  field  that  separated  him  from  the 
forest.  A  shower  of  musket  balls  fell  around  him. 
"  Catch  or  kill  him  !  "  was  shouted  behind  him.  But 
the  light,  agile  Creole,  with  the  Creole  hunter's  training 
from  infancy,  was  more  than  a  match  for  his  pursuers 
in  such  a  race  as  that.  He  gained  the  woods,  a 
swamp,  while  they  were  crossing  the  field,  spreading 
out  as  they  ran  to  shut  him  in.  He  sprang  over  the 
boggy  earth,  into  the  swamp,  until  his  feet,  sinking 
deeper  and  deeper,  clogged,  and  stu,ck.  The  Britons 
were  gaining  ;  had  reached  the  swamp.  He  could  hear 
them  panting  and  blowing,  and  the  orders  which  made 
his  capture  inevitable.  There  was  but  one  chance;  he 
sprang  up  a  cypress  tree,  and  strove  for  the  thick  moss 
and  branches  overhead.  Half-way  up,  he  heard  a  whim- 
pering below.  It  was  the  voice  of  his  dog,  his  favourite 
setter,  whining,  fawning,  and  looking  up  to  him  with 
all  the  pathos  of  brute  fidelity.  There  was  no  choice  ; 
it  was  her  life  or  his,  and  with  his,  perhaps  the  surprise 
and  capture  of  the  city.  Dropping  to  the  earth,  he 
seized  a  billet  of  wood,  and  aimed  one  blow  between 
the  setter's  devoted  eyes  ;  with  the  tears  in  his  own 
eyes,  he  used  to  relate.  To  throw  the  body  to  one  side, 
snatch  some  brush  over  it,  spring  to  the  tree  again,  was 
the  work  of  an  instant.  As  he  drew  the  moss  around 
his  crouching  figure,  and  stilled  his  hard  breathing,  the 
British  floundered  past.  When  they  abandoned  their 
useless  search,  he  slid  from  his  covert,  pushed  through 
the  swamp  to  the  next  plantation,  and  carried  the  alarm 
at  full  speed  to  the  city. 


NEW  OELEANS.  225 

The  British  troops  moved  up  the  road  along  the 
levee,  to  the  upper  line  of  the  plantation,  and  took 
their  position  in  three  columns.  Headquarters  were 
established  in  the  Villere  residence,  in  the  yard  of 
which  a  small  battery  was  thrown  up.  They  were 
eight  miles  from  the  city  and  separated  from  it  by  fif- 
teen plantations,  large  and  small.  By  pushing  forward, 
General  Keane  in  two  hours  could  have  reached  the 
city,  and  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  would  have  taken 
place  then  and  there,  and  most  probably  a  different 
decision  would  have  been  wrested  from  victory.  The 
British  officers  strongly  urged  this  bold  line  of  action, 
but  Keane  believing  the  statement  that  General  Jackson 
had  an  army  of  about  fifteen  thousand  in  New  Orleans, 
a  force  double  his  own,  feared  being  cut  off  from  the 
fleet.  He  therefore  concluded  to  delay  his  advance 
until  the  other  divisions  came  up.  This  was  on  the 
twenty-third  day  of  December. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Jackson  to  his  aids  and  secretaries, 
at  half -past  one  o'clock,  when  Villere  had  finished  his 
report,  "  the  British  are  below ;  we  must  fight  them 
to-night." 

He  issued  his  orders  summoning  his  small  force  from 
their  various  posts.  Plauche's  battalion  was  two  miles 
away,  at  Bayou  St.  John,  Coffee  five  miles  off,  at 
Avart's,  the  coloured  battalion,  at  Gentilly.  They  were 
commanded  to  proceed  immediately  to  Montreuil's  plan- 
tation below  the  city,  where  they  would  be  joined  by  the 
regulars.  Commodore  Patterson  was  directed  to  get 
the  gunboat  •'  Carolina  "  under  way.  As  the  Cathedral 
clock  was  striking  three,  from  every  quarter  of  the  city 
troops  were  seen  coming  at  a  quickstep  through  the 
streets,  each  company  with  its  own  vernacular  music, 


226  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Yankee  Doodle,  La  Marseillaise,  Le  Chant  du  Depart. 
The  ladies  and  children  crowded  the  balconies  and  win- 
dows to  wave  handkerchiefs  and  applaud ;  the  old  men 
stood  upon  the  banquettes  waving  their  hats  and  with 
more  sorrow  in  eyes  and  heart  over  their  impotence 
than  age  had  ever  yet  wrung  from  them. 

Jackson,  on  horseback,  with  the  regulars  drawn  up 
at  his  right,  waited  at  the  gate  of  Fort  St.  Charles  to 
review  the  troops  as  they  passed.  The  artillery 
were  already  below,  in  possession  of  the  road.  The 
first  to  march  down  after  them  were  Beale's  rifles,  or, 
as  New  Orleans  calls  them,  Beale's  famous  rifles,  in 
their  blue  hunting  shirts  and  citizens'  hats,  their  long 
bores  over  their  shoulders,  sharp-shooters  and  picked 
shots  every  one  of  them,  all  young,  active,  intelligent 
volunteers,  from  the  best  in  the  professional  and  busi- 
ness circles,  asking  but  one  favour,  the  post  of  danger. 
At  a  hand  gallop,  and  with  a  cloud  of  dust,  came  Hinds's 
dragoons,  delighting  General  Jackson  by  their  gallant, 
dare-devil  bearing.  After  them  Jackson's  companion 
in  arms,  the  great  Coffee,  trotted  at  the  head  of  his 
mounted  gun-men,  with  their  long  hair  and  unshaved 
faces,  in  dingy  woolen  hunting  shirts,  copperas  dyed 
trousers,  coonskin  caps,  and  leather  belts  stuck  with 
hunting  knives  and  tomahawks.  "  Forward  at  a  gallop  ! " 
was  Coffee's  order,  after  a  word  with  General  Jackson, 
and  so  they  disappeared.  Through  a  side  street  marched 
a  gay,  varied  mass  of  colour,  men  all  of  a  size,  but  some 
mere  boys  in  age,  with  the  handsome,  regular  features, 
flashing  eyes  and  unmistakable  martial  bearing  of  the 
French.  "Ah!  Here  come  the  brave  Creoles,"  cries 
Jackson,  and  Plauche's  battalion,  which  had  come  in  on 
a  run  from  Bayou  St.  John,  stepped  gallantly  by. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  227 

And  after  these,  under  their  white  commander,  denied 
the  Freemen  of  colour,  and  then  passed  down  the  road 
a  band  of  a  hundred  Choctaw  Indians  in  their  war 
paint ;  last  of  all,  the  Regulars.  Jackson  still  waited 
until  a  small  dark  schooner  left  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
river  and  slowly  moved  down  the  current.  This  was 
the  "  Carolina,"  under  Commodore  Patterson.  Then 
Jackson  clapped  spurs  to  his  horse,  and,  followed  by 
his  aids,  galloped  after  his  army. 

The  veteran  corps  took  the  patrol  of  the  now  deserted 
streets.  The  ladies  retired  from  balcony  and  window, 
with  their  brave  smiles  and  fluttering  handkerchiefs, 
and,  hastening  to  their  respective  posts,  assembled  in 
coteries  to  prepare  lint  and  bandages,  and  cut  and  sew, 
for  many  of  their  defenders  and  Jackson's  warriors 
had  landed  on  the  levee  in  a  ragged  if  not  destitute 
condition.  Before  Jackson  left  Fort  St.  Charles,  a 
message  had  been  sent  to  him  from  one  of  these  coteries, 
asking  what  they  were  to  do  in  case  the  city  was 
attacked.  "  Say  to  the  ladies,"  he  replied,  "  not  to  be 
uneasy.  No  British  soldier  shall  ever  enter  the  city  as 
an  enemy,  unless  over  my  dead  body." 

As  the  rumoured  war-cry  of  the  British  was  "  Beauty 
and  Booty,"  many  of  the  ladies,  besides  thimbles  and 
needles,  had  provided  themselves  with  small  daggers, 
which  they  wore  in  their  belts. 

Here  it  is  the  custom  of  local  pride  to  pause  and 
enumerate  the  foes  set  in  array  against  the  men  hasten- 
ing down  the  levee  road. 

First,  always,  there  was  that  model  regiment,  the 
Ninety-third  Highlanders,  in  their  bright  tartans  and 
kilts,  men  chosen  for  stature  and  strength,  whose 
broad  breasts,  wide  shoulders,  and  stalwart  figures, 


228  NEW  ORLEANS. 

widened  their  ranks  into  a  formidable  appearance. 
The  Prince  of  Orange  and  his  staff  had  journeyed 
from  London  to  Plymouth  to  review  them  before  they 
embarked.  Then  there  were  six  companies  of  the 
Ninety-fifth  Rifles ;  the  famous  Rifle  Brigade  of  the 
Peninsular  Campaign ;  the  Fourteenth  Regiment,  the 
Duchess  of  York's  Light  Dragoons ;  two  West  Indian 
regiments,  with  artillery,  rocket  brigade,  sapper  and  en- 
gineer corps  —  in  all,  four  thousand  three  hundred  men, 
under  command  of  Major-General  John  Keane,  a  young 
officer  whose  past  reputation  for  daring  and  gallantry  has 
been  proudly  kept  bright  by  the  traditions  of  his  New 
Orleans  foes.  To  these  were  added  General  Ross's 
three  thousand  men,  fresh  from  their  brilliant  Baltimore 
and  Washington  raid.  Choice  troops  they  were,  the 
gallant  and  distinguished  Fourth,  or  King's  Own,  the 
Forty-fourth,  East  Essex  Foot,  the  Eighty-fifth,  Buck 
Volunteers,  commanded  by  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
officers  in  the  British  service,  Col.  William  Thornton ; 
the  twenty-first  Royal,  North  British  Fusileers, — with 
the  exception  of  the  Black  Regiments  and  the  High- 
landers, all  tried  veterans,  who  had  fought  with  Wel- 
lington through  his  Peninsular  campaign  from  the 
beginning  to  his  triumphant  entry  into  France. 

Only  the  first  boat  loads,  eighteen  hundred  men,  were 
in  Villere's  field  on  the  afternoon  of  the  twenty-third. 
They  lay  around  their  bivouac  fires,  about  two  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  levee,  enjoying  their  rest  and  the 
digestion  of  the  bountiful  supper  of  fresh  meat,  poul- 
try, milk,  eggs,  and  delicacies,  which  had  been  added 
to  their  rations  by  a  prompt  raid  on  the  neighbouring 
plantations.  General  Keane  and  Colonel  Thornton 
paced  the  gallery  of  the  Villere  house,  glancing  at  each 


NEW  ORLEANS.  229 

turn  towards  the  wood,  for  the  sight  of  the  coming  of 
the  next  division  of  the  army. 

The  only  hostile  demonstration  during  the  afternoon 
had  been  the  firing  of  the  outpost  upon  a  reconnoitering 
squad  of  dragoons  and  a  bold  dash  down  the  road  of 
a  detachment  of  Hinds's  horsemen,  who,  after  a  cool, 
impudent  survey  of  the  British  camp,  had  galloped 
away  again  under  a  volley  from  the  Rifles. 

Darkness  gathered  over  the  scene.  The  sentinels 
were  doubled,  and  officers  walked  their  rounds  in 
watchful  anxiety.  About  seven  o'clock  some  of  them 
observed  a  boat  stealing  slowly  down  the  river.  From 
her  careless  approach,  they  thought  she  must  be  one  of 
their  own  cruisers  which  had  passed  the  forts  below 
and  was  returning  from  a  reconnoissance  of  the  river. 
She  answered  neither  hail  nor  musket  shot,  but  steered 
steadily  on,  veering  in  close  ashore  until  her  broadside 
was  abreast  of  the  camp.  Then  her  anchor  was  let 
loose,  and  a  loud  voice  was  heard  :  "  Give  them  this, 
for  the  honour  of  America."  A  flash  lighted  the  dark 
hulk,  and  a  tornado  of  grape  and  musket  shot  swept 
the  levee  and  field.  It  was  the  "  Carolina  "  and  Com- 
modore Patterson  ;  volley  after  volley  followed  with 
deadly  rapidity  and  precision  ;  the  sudden  and  terrible 
havoc  threw  the  camp  into  blind  disorder.  The  men 
ran  wildly  to  and  fro,  seeking  shelter  until  Thornton 
ordered  them  to  get  under  cover  of  the  levee.  There, 
according  to  the  British  version,  they  lay  for  an  hour. 
The  night  was  so  black  that  not  an  object  could  be  dis- 
tinguished at  the  distance  of  a  yard.  The  bivouac  fires, 
beat  about  by  the  enemy's  shot,  burned  red  and  dull  in 
the  deserted  camp. 

A  straggling  fire  of  musketry  in  the  direction  of  the 


230  NEW  ORLEANS. 

pickets  gave  warning  of  a  closer  struggle.  It  paused 
a  few  moments,  then  a  fearful  yell,  and  the  whole 
heavens  seemed  ablaze  with  musketry.  The  British 
thought  themselves  surrounded.  Two  regiments  flew 
to  support  the  pickets,  another,  forming  in  close  column, 
stole  to  the  rear  of  the  encampment  and  remained  there 
as  a  reserve.  After  that,  all  order,  all  discipline,  were 
lost.  Each  officer,  as  he  succeeded  in  collecting  twenty 
or  thirty  men  about  him,  plunged  into  the  American 
ranks,  and  began  the  fight  that  Pakenham  reported 
as  :  "  A  more  extraordinary  conflict  has,  perhaps,  never 
occurred,  absolutely  hand  to  hand,  both  officers  and 
men." 

Jackson  had  marshaled  his  men  along  the  line  of  a 
plantation  canal  (the  Rodriguez  Canal),  about  two  miles 
from  the  British.  He  himself  led  the  attack  on  their 
left.  Coffee,  with  the  Teimesseeans,  Hinds's  dragoons, 
and  Beale's  rifles,  skirting  along  the  edge  of  the  swamp, 
made  the  assault  on  their  right.  The  broadside  from 
the  "  Carolina  "  was  the  signal  to  start.  It  was  on  the 
right  that  the  fiercest  fighting  was  done.  Coffee  ordered 
his  men  to  be  sure  of  their  aim,  to  fire  at  a  short  distance, 
and  not  to  lose  a  shot.  Trained  to  the  rifle  from  child- 
hood, the  Tennesseeans  could  fire  faster  and  more  surely 
than  any  mere  soldier  could  ever  hope  to  do.  Wherever 
they  heard  the  sharp  crack  of  a  British  rifle,  they  ad- 
vanced, and  the  British  were  as  eager  to  meet  them. 
The  short  rifle  of  'the  English  service  proved  also  no 
match  for  the  long  bore  of  the  Western  hunters.  When 
they  came  to  close  quarters,  neither  side  having  bayo- 
nets, they  clubbed  their  guns  to  the  ruin  of  many  a  fine 
weapon.  But  the  canny  Tennesseeans  rather  than  risk 
their  rifles,  their  own  property,  used  for  close  quarters 


NEW  ORLEANS.  231 

their  long  knives  and  tomahawks,  whose  skilful  han- 
dling they  had  learned  from  the  Indians. 

The  second  division  of  British  troops,  coming  up  the 
Bayou,  heard  the  firing,  and,  pressing  forward  with  all 
speed,  arrived  in  time  to  reinforce  their  right ;  but  the  su- 
periority in  numbers  which  this  gave  them  was  more  than 
offset  by  the  guns  of  the  "  Carolina,"  which  maintained 
their  fire  during  the  action,  and  long  after  it  was  over. 

A  heavy  fog,  as  in  Homeric  times,  obscuring  the  field 
and  the  combatants,  put  an  end  to  the  struggle.  Jack- 
son withdrew  his  men  to  Rodriguez  Canal,  the  British 
fell  back  to  their  camp. 

A  number  of  prisoners  were  made  on  both  sides. 
Among  the  Americans  taken  were  a  handful  of  Ne\v 
Orleans'  most  prominent  citizens,  who  were  sent  to  the 
fleet  at  Ship  Island.  The  most  distinguished  pris- 
oner made  by  the  Americans  was  Major  Mitchell,  of 
the  Ninety-fifth  Rifles,  and  to  his  intense  chagrin  he 
was  forced  to  yield  his  sword,  not  to  regulars,  but  to 
Coffee's  uncourtly  Tennesseeans.  It  was  this  feeling 
that  dictated  his  answer  to  Jackson's  courteous  message 
requesting  that  he  would  make  known  any  requisite 
for  his  comfort ;  "  Return  my  compliments  to  General 
Jackson,  and  say  that  as  my  baggage  will  reach  me  in 
a  few  days  I  shall  be  able  to  dispense  with  his  polito 
attentions."  The  chronicler  of  the  anecdote  aptly 
adds,  that  had  the  major  persisted  in  this  rash  deter- 
mination, he  would  never  have  been  in  a  condition  to 
partake  of  the  hospitalities  which  were  lavished  upon 
him  during  his  detention  in  New  Orleans  and  Natchez, 
where  the  prisoners  were  sent.  On  his  way  to  Natchez 
he  became  the  guest  at  a  plantation  famed  for  its 
elegance  and  luxury.  At  the  supper  table  he  met 


232  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  daughter  of  the  house,  a  young  Creole  girl 
as  charming  and  accomplished  as  she  was  beautiful. 
Speaking  French  fluently,  he  was  soon  engaged  in  a 
lively  conversation  with  her.  She  mentioned  with  en- 
thusiasm a  party  of  Tennesseeans  entertained  by  her 
father  a  few  days  before.  Still  smarting  from  his  capt- 
ure, the  major  could  not  refrain  from  saying:  "Made- 
moiselle, I  am  astonished  that  one  so  refined  could 
find  pleasure  in  the  society  of  such  rude  barbarians." 
"  Major,"  she  replied  with  glowing  face,  "  I  had  rather 
be  the  wife  of  one  of  those  hardy,  coarsely  clad  men 
who  have  marched  two  thousand  miles  to  fight  for  the 
honour  of  their  country,  than  wear  a  coronet." 

To  return  to  the  battlefield.  The  Rodriguez  Canal, 
with  its  embankment,  formed  a  pretty  good  line  of 
fortifications  in  itself.  Jackson,  without  the  loss  of 
an  hour's  time,  sent  to  the  city  for  spades  and  picks, 
and  set  his  army  to  work  deepening  the  canal  and 
strengthening  the  embankment.  For  the  latter,  any 
material  within  reach  was  used,  timber,  fence-rails, 
bales  of  cotton  (which  is  the  origin  of  the  myth  that  he 
fought  behind  ramparts  of  cotton  bales).  His  men, 
most  of  them  handling  a  spade  for  the  first  and  last 
time  in  their  lives,  dug  as  they  had  fought  a  few  hours 
before,  every  stroke  aimed  to  tell. 

General  Jackson  established  his  headquarters  in  the 
residence  of  the  Macarty  plantation,  within  two  hun- 
dred yards  of  his  entrenchments. 

The  British  passed  a  miserable  night.  Not  until 
the  last  fire  was  extinguished,  and  the  fog  completely 
veiled  the  field,  did  the  "  Carolina "  cease  her  firing 
and  move  to  the  other  side  of  the  river.  The  men, 
shivering  on  the  damp  ground,  exposed  to  the  cold, 


NEW  OKLEANS.  233 

moist  atmosphere,  with  now  none  but  their  scant,  half- 
spoiled  rations,  were  depressed  and  discouraged,  and  the 
officers  were  more  anxious  and  uncertain  than  ever,  and 
more  completely  in  error  as  to  the  force  opposed  to  them. 
From  the  intrepidity  and  boldness  of  the  Americans, 
they  imagined  that  at  least  five  thousand  had  been  in 
the  field  that  night.  Other  observations  strengthened 
this  misapprehension ;  each  volunteer  company,  with 
its  different  uniform,  represented  to  military  minds  so 
many  different  regiments,  a  tenfold  multiplication  of 
the  Americans.  Besides,  in  the  din  of  commands,  cries, 
and  answers,  as  much  French  was  heard  as  English. 
The  truth  began  to  dawn  upon  the  British,  that,  much 
as  the  Creoles  hated  the  Americans,  they  were  not 
going  to  allow  a  foreign  invader  to  occupy  a  land 
which  they  considered  theirs  by  right  of  original  dis- 
covery, occupation,  and  development,  whatever  might 
be  the  flag  or  form  of  government  over  them. 

The  dawning  of  the  twenty -fourth  disclosed  in  the 
river  another  vessel,  the  "  Louisiana,"  in  position  near 
the  "  Carolina,"  and  all  day  the  camp  lay  helpless  under 
their  united  cannonading.  A  gloomier  Christmastide, 
as  our  genial  chronicler  Walker  puts  it,  could  hardly 
be  imagined  for  the  sons  of  Merrie  England.  Had  it 
been  in  the  day  of  the  cable,  they  would  have  known 
that  their  hardships  and  bloodshed  were  over,  that 
at  that  very  date,  the  twenty-fourth  of  December,  the 
peace  that  terminated  the  war  between  the  two  con- 
tending countries  was  being  signed  in  Ghent.  The 
unexpected  arrival,  however,  on  Christmas  day,  of  the 
new  commander-in-chief,  Sir  Edward  Pakenham,  accom- 
panied by  a  distinguished  staff,  sent  through  the  hearts 
of  the  British  a  thrill  of  their  wonted  all-conquering 


234  NEW   ORLEANS. 

confidence,  and  the  glad  cheers  of  welcome  that  greeted 
Sir  Edward  from  his  old  companions  in  arms  and  veter- 
ans of  the  Peninsula  rang  over  into  the  American  camp. 

Well  might  Jackson's  men,  as  they  heard  it,  bend 
with  more  dogged  determination  over  their  spades  and 
picks.  Sir  Edward  Pakenham  was  too  well  known 
in  a  place  so  heavily  populated  from  Europe  as  New 
Orleans  was,  not  to  make  the  thrill  of  joy  in  his  own 
army  a  thrill  of  apprehension  in  an  opposing  one.  It 
is  perhaps  from  this  thrill  of  apprehension,  at  that 
moment  in  their  breasts,  that  dates  the  pride  of  the  peo- 
ple of  New  Orleans  in  Pakenham,  and  the  affectionate 
tribute  of  homage  which  they  always  interrupt  their 
account  of  the  glorious  eighth  to  pay  to  him. 

The  son  of  the  Earl  of  Longford,  he  came  from  a 
family  which  had  been  ennobled  for  its  military  quali- 
ties. From  his  lieutenancy  he  had  won  every  grade  by 
some  perilous  service,  and  generally  at  the  cost  of  a 
wound  ;  few  officers,  even  of  that  hard -fighting  day, 
had  encountered  so  many  perils  and  hardships,  and  had 
so  many  wounds  to  show  for  them.  He  had  fought 
side  by  side,  with  Wellington  (who  was  his  brother-in- 
law)  through  the  Peninsular  War  ;  he  headed  the  storm- 
ing party  at  Badajoz  ;  actually  the  second  man  to  mount 
one  of  the  ladders ;  and  as  brigadier  of  the  Old  Fight- 
ing Third,  under  Picton,  in  the  absence  by  illness  of  his 
chief,  he  led  the  charge  at  Salamanca,  which  gained  the 
victory  for  England  and  Avon  him  his  knighthood.  An 
earldom  and  the  governorship  of  Louisiana,  it  is  said, 
had  been  promised  him  as  the  reward  of  his  American 
expedition,  an  expedition  Avhich  the  government  had 
at  first  seriously  contemplated  confiding  to  no  less  a 
leader  than  the  Iron  Duke  himself. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  235 

Sir  Edward's  practised  eye  soon  took  in  the  difficul- 
ties and  embarrassments  of  the  British  position.  His 
council  of  war  was  prolonged  far  into  the  night,  and 
among  the  anxiously  waiting  subalterns  outside  the 
rumour  was  whispered  that  their  chief  was  so  dissatisfied 
after  receiving  Keane's  full  report  that  he  had  but  little 
hope  of  success,  and  that  he  even  thought  of  withdraw- 
ing the  army  and  making  a  fresh  attempt  in  another 
quarter.  But  the  sturdy  veteran  Sir  Alexander  Coch- 
rane,  would  hear  of  no  such  word  as  fail.  "  If  the 
army,"  he  said,  "shrinks  from  the  task,  I  will  fetch 
the  sailors  and  marines  from  the  fleet,  and  with  them 
storm  the  American  lines  and  march  to  the  city.  The 
soldiers  can  then,"  he  added,  "bring  up  the  baggage." 

The  result  of  the  council  was  the  decision,  first,  to 
silence  the  "  Carolina  "  and  "  Louisiana,"  then  to  carry 
the  American  lines  by  storm.  All  the  large  cannon 
that  could  be  spared  were  ordered  from  the  fleet,  and 
by  the  night  of  the  twenty-sixth  a  powerful  battery 
was  planted  on  the  levee.  The  next  morning  it  opened 
fire  on  the  vessels,  which  answered  with  broadsides  ;  a 
furious  cannonading  ensued.  Pakenham,  standing  in 
full  view  on  the  levee,  cheered  his  artillerists.  Jackson, 
from  the  dormer  window  of  the  Macarty  mansion,  kept 
his  telescope  riveted  on  his  boats.  The  bank  of  the  river 
above  and  below  the  American  camp  was  lined  with 
spectators  watching  with  breathless  interest  the  tempest 
of  cannon  balls,  bursting  shells,  hot  shot,  and  rockets 
pouring  from  levee  and  gunboats.  In  half  an  hour 
the  "  Carolina "  was  struck,  took  fire,  and  blew  up. 
The  British  gave  three  loud  cheers.  The  "  Louisiana  " 
strained  every  nerve  to  get  out  of  reach  of  the  terrible 
battery  now  directed  full  upon  her,  but  with  wind  and 


236  NEW  ORLEANS. 

current  against  her  she  seemed  destined  to  the  fate 
of  the  "  Carolina,"  when  her  officers  bethought  them  of 
towing,  and  so  moved  her  slowly  up  stream.  As  she 
dropped  her  anchors  opposite  the  American  camp,  her 
crew  gave  three  loud  cheers,  in  defiant  answer  to  the 
British.  That  evening  the  British  army,  in  two  col- 
umns, under  Keane  and  Gibbs,  moved  forward,  the 
former  by  the  levee  road,  the  latter  under  cover  of  the 
woods,  to  within  six  hundred  yards  of  the  American 
lines,  where  they  encamped  for  the  night.  But  there 
was  little  sleep  or  rest  for  them.  The  American  rifle- 
men, with  individual  enterprise,  bushwhacked  them 
without  intercession,  driving  in  their  outposts  and 
picking  off  picket  after  picket,  a  mode  of  warfare 
that  the  English,  fresh  from  Continental  etiquette, 
indignantly  branded  as  barbarous. 

Jackson,  with  his  telescope,  had  seen  from  the  Ma- 
carty  house  the  line  of  Pakenham's  action,  and  set  to 
work  to  resist  it,  giving  his  aids  a  busy  night's  work. 
He  strengthened  his  battery  on  the  levee,  added  a  bat- 
tery to  command  the  road,  reinforced  his  infantry,  and 
cut  the  levee  so  that  the  rising  river  would  flood  the 
road.  The  Mississippi  proved  recreant,  however,  and 
fell,  instead  of  rising,  and  the  road  remained  undamaged. 

The  American  force  now  consisted  of  four  thousand 
men  and  twenty  pieces  of  artillery,  not  counting  the 
always  formidable  guns  of  the  "  Louisiana,"  command- 
ing the  situation  from  her  vantage  ground  of  the  river. 
The  British  columns  held  eight  thousand  men. 

The  morning  was  clear  and  frosty  ;  the  sun,  breaking 
through  the  mists,  shone  with  irradiating  splendour. 
The  British  ranks  advanced  briskly  in  a  new  elation 
of  spirits  after  yesterday's  success.  Keane  marched  his 


NEW  ORLEANS.  237 

column  as  near  the  levee  as  possible,  and  under  screen 
of  the  buildings  of  the  two  plantations,  Bienvenu's 
and  Chalmette's,  intervening  between  him  and  the 
American  line  ;  Gibbs  hugged  the  woods  on  the  right. 
The  Ninety-fifth  extended  across  the  field,  in  skirmish- 
ing order,  meeting  Keane's  men  on  their  right.  Pak- 
enham,  with  his  staff  and  a  guard  composed  of  the  14th 
Dragoons,  rode  in  the  centre  of  the  line  so  as  to  com- 
mand a  view  of  both  columns.  Just  as  Keane's  column 
passed  the  Bienvenu  buildings,  the  Chalmette  buildings 
were  blown  up,  and  then  the  general  saw,  through  his 
glasses,  the  mouths  of  Jackson's  large  cannon  com- 
pletely covering  his  column,  and  these  guns,  as  our 
authority  states,  were  manned  as  guns  are  not  often 
manned  on  land.  Around  one  of  the  twenty-four 
pounders  stood  a  band  of  red-shirted,  bewhiskered, 
desperate-looking  men,  begrimed  with  smoke  and 
mud ;  they  were  the  Baratarians,  who  had  answered 
Jackson's  orders  by  running  in  all  the  way  from  their 
fort  on  Bayou  St.  John  that  morning.  The  other 
battery  was  in  charge  of  the  practised  crew  of  the 
destroyed  "Carolina."  Preceded  by  a  shower  of  rock- 
ets, and  covered  by  the  fire  from  their  artillery  in 
front  and  their  battery  on  the  levee,  the  British  army 
advanced,  solid,  cool,  steady,  beautiful  in  the  rhythm 
of  their  step  and  the  glitter  of  their  uniforms  and 
equipments,  moving  as  if  on  dress  parade,  —  to  the 
Americans  a  display  of  the  beauty  and  majesty  of 
power  such  as  they  had  never  seen. 

The  great  guns  of  the  Baratarians  and  of  the  crew  of 
the  "  Carolina  "  and  those  of  the  "  Louisiana  "  flashed 
forth  almost  simultaneously,  and  all  struck  full  in  the 
scarlet  ranks.  The  havoc  was  terrible.  For  a  time 


238  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Keane  held  his  men  firm  in  a  vain  display  of  valour, 
under  the  pitiless  destructive  fire,  no  shot  or  bullet  miss- 
ing its  aim  or  falling  short.  Then  the  Americans  saw 
the  heaving  columns  change  to  a  thin  red  streak,  which 
disappeared  from  view  as  under  the  wand  of  an  en- 
chanter, the  men  dropping  into  the  ditches,  burying 
head  and  shoulders  in  the  rushes  on  the  banks.  Pak- 
enham's  face  grew  dark  and  gloomy  at  the  sight.  Never 
before,  it  is  said,  had  a  British  soldier  in  his  presence 
quailed  before  an  enemy  or  sought  cover  from  a  fire. 

Gibbs  had  fared  no  better.  He  who  had  led  the 
storming  party  against  Fort  Cornelius,  who  had  scaled 
the  parapets  of  Badajoz  and  the  walls  of  St.  Sebastian, 
could  not  but  despise  the  low  levee  and  the  narrow 
ditch  of  the  American  fortifications ;  but  after  one 
ineffectual  dash  at  the  enemy's  lines,  his  men  could  be 
brought  to  accomplish  nothing,  remaining  inactive  in 
the  shelter  of  the  woods  until  ordered  to  retire.  As 
the  American  batteries  continued  to  sweep  the  field,  the 
British  troops  could  be  withdrawn  only  by  breaking 
into  small  squads  and  so  escaping  to  the  rear.  Sir 
Thomas  Trowbridge,  dashing  forward  with  a  squad  of 
seamen  to  the  dismounted  guns,  succeeded,  with  incred- 
ible exertion,  in  tying  ropes  to  them  and  drawing  them 
off. 

The  British  army  remained  on  the  Bienvenu  plan- 
tation. Pakenhain  and  his  staff  rode  back  to  their 
headquarters  at  Villere's.  Another  council  of  war  was 
called.  Pakenham's  depression  was  now  quite  evident, 
but  the  stout-hearted  Cochrane  again  stood  indomitably 
firm.  He  showed  that  their  failure  thus  far  was  due  to 
the  superiority  of  the  American  artillery.  They  must 
supply  this  deficiency  by  bringing  more  large  guns  from 


NEW  ORLEANS.  239 

the  fleet,  and  equip  a  battery  strong  enough  to  cope 
with  the  few  old  guns  of  the  Americans.  It  was 
suggested  that  the  Americans  were  intrenched.  "  So 
must  we  be,"  he  replied  promptly.  It  was  determined, 
therefore,  to  treat  the  American  lines  as  regular  forti- 
fications, by  erecting  batteries  against  them,  and  so 
attempting  to  silence  their  guns.  Three  days  were  con- 
sumed in  the  herculean  labour  of  bringing  the  necessary 
guns  from  the  fleet.  While  the  British  were  thus  em- 
ployed, Commodore  Patterson  constructed  a  battery 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  equipped  it  with 
cannon  from  the  "  Louisiana  "  and  manned  it  by  an  im- 
pressment of  every  nautical-looking  character  to  be 
found  in  the  sailor  boarding-houses  of  New  Orleans, 
gathering  together  as  motley  a  corps  as  ever  fought 
under  one  flag,  natives  of  all  countries  except  Great 
Britain,  speaking  every  language  except  that  of  their 
commander. 

On  the  night  of  the  thirty-first,  one-half  of  the 
British  army  marched  silently  to  within  about  four 
hundred  yards  of  Jackson's  line,  where  they  stacked 
their  arms  and  went  to  work  with  spades  and  picks 
under  the  superintendence  of  Sir  John  Burgoyne. 
The  night  was  dark ;  silence  was  rigidly  enforced ; 
officers  joined  in  the  work.  Before  the  dawn  of  New 
Year,  1815,  there  faced  the  American  lines  three  solid 
demilunes,  at  nearly  equal  distances  apart,  armed  with 
thirty  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance,  furnished  with  ammu- 
nition for  six  hours,  and  served  by  picked  gunners  of 
the  fleet,  veterans  of  Nelson  and  Collingswood.  As  soon 
as  their  work  was  completed,  the  British  infantry  fell 
back  to  the  rear  and  awaited  anxiously  the  beginning 
of  operations,  ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  expected 


240  NEW  ORLEANS. 

breach  in  the  American  works.  The  sailors  and  artil- 
lerists stood  with  lighted  matches  behind  their  redoubts. 
A  heavy  fog  hung  over  the  field,  so  that  neither  army- 
could  see  twenty  yards  ahead.  In  the  American  camp, 
a  grand  parade  had  been  ordered.  At  an  early  hour 
the  troops  were  astir,  in  holiday  cleanliness  and  neat- 
ness. The  different  bands  sounded  their  bravest 
strains ;  the  various  standards  of  the  regiments  and 
companies  fluttered  gaily  in  the  breeze.  The  British 
had  one  glance  at  it,  as  the  fog  rolled  up,  and  then 
their  cannon  crashed  through  the  scene.  For  a  moment 
the  American  camp  trembled,  and  there  was  confusion, 
not  of  panic,  but  of  men  rushing  to  their  assigned 
posts.  By  the  time  the  British  smoke  cleared  every 
man  was  in  his  place,  and  as  the  British  batteries  came 
into  view  their  answer  was  ready  for  them.  Jackson 
strode  down  the  line,  stopping  at  each  battery,  waving 
his  cap  as  the  men  cheered  him. 

During  the  fierce  cannonade  the  cotton  bales  in  the 
American  breastworks  caught  fire,  and  there  was  a 
moment  of  serious  peril  to  that  part  of  the  line,  but 
they  were  dragged  out  and  cast  into  the  trench.  The 
English  were  no  happier  in  their  use  of  hogsheads  of 
sugar  in  their  redoubts,  the  cannon  balls  perforating 
them  easily  and  demolishing  them. 

In  an  hour  and  a  half  the  British  fire  began  to 
slacken,  and  as  the  smoke  lifted  it  was  seen  that  their 
entrenchments  were  beaten  in,  the  guns  exposed,  and 
the  gunners  badly  thinned.  Not  long  after  their  bat- 
teries were  completely  silenced  and  their  parapets 
levelled  with  the  plain.  The  British  battery  on  the 
levee  had,  with  their  hot  shot,  kept  the  "  Louisiana  "  at 
a  distance,  but  now  the  Americans  turning  their  atten- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  241 

tion  to  it,  that  battery  was  reduced  to  the  same  con- 
dition as  the  redoubts. 

The  English  army  again  retired,  baffled,  and  during 
the  night,  such  of  their  guns  as  had  not  been  destroyed 
were  removed.  The  soldiers  did  not  conceal  their  dis- 
couragement. For  two  whole  days  and  nights  there 
had  been  no  rest  in  camp,  except  for  those  that  were 
cool  enough  to  sleep  in  a  shower  of  cannon  balls.  From 
the  general  down  to  the  meanest  sentinel,  all  had 
suffered  in  the  severe  strain  of  fatigue.  They  saw 
that  they  were  greatly  overmatched  in  artillery,  their 
provisions  were  scant  and  coarse,  they  had,  properly 
speaking,  no  rest  at  night,  and  sickness  was  beginning 
to  appear. 

Sir  Edward  had  one  more  plan,  one  worthy  of  his 
bold  character.  It  was  to  storm  the  American  lines  on 
both  sides  of  the  river,  beginning  with  the  right  bank, 
which  would  enable  the  British  to  turn  the  conquered 
batteries  on  Jackson's  lines,  and  drive  him  from  his 
position  and  cut  him  off  from  the  city. 

By  the  7th  of  January,  with  another  heroic  exertion, 
Villere's  Canal  was  prolonged  two  miles  to  the  river, 
and  the  barges  to  transport  the  troops  to  the  other 
bank  carried  through.  During  the  delay  a  reinforce- 
ment arrived,  two  fine  regiments,  Pakenham's  own, 
the  Seventh  Fusileers,  and  the  Forty-third,  under 
Major-General  John  Lambert,  also  one  of  Wellington's 
apprentices.  Pakenham  divided  his  army,  now  ten 
thousand  strong,  into  three  brigades,  under  command 
respectively  of  Generals  Lambert,  Gibbs,  and  Keane. 
His  plan  of  attack  was  simple.  Colonel  Thornton, 
with  fourteen  hundred  men,  was  to  cross  the  river 
during  the  night  of  the  seventh  and  steal  upon  and 


242  NEW  ORLEANS. 

carry  the  American  line  before  day.  At  a  signal  to 
be  given  by  him,  Gibbs  was  to  storm  the  American 
left,  whilst  General  Keane  should  threaten  their  right ; 
Lambert  held  the  reserve. 

Jackson  steadied  himself  for  what  he  understood  to 
be  the  last  round  in  the  encounter.  He  also  had 
received  a  reinforcement.  A  few  days  before,  the  long 
expected  drafted  militia  of  Kentucky,  twenty-two  hun- 
dred men,  arrived,  but  arrived  in  a  condition  that 
made  them  a  questionable  addition  to  his  strength. 
Hurried  from  their  homes  without  supplies,  they  had 
travelled  fifteen  hundred  miles  without  demur,  under  the 
impression  that  the  government  would  plentifully  fur- 
nish and  equip  them  in  New  Orleans.  Only  about  a 
third  were  armed,  with  old  muskets,  and  nearly  all  of 
them  were  in  want  of  clothing.  The  poor  fellows  had 
to  hold  their  tattered  garments  together  to  hide  their 
nakedness  as  they  marched  through  the  streets.  The 
government  of  course  did  nothing.  The  citizens,  acutely 
moved,  raised  a  sum  of  sixteen  thousand  dollars  and 
expended  it  for  blankets  and  woolens.  The  latter 
were  distributed  among  the  ladies,  and  by  them,  in  a 
few  days,  made  into  comfortable  garments  for  their 
needy  defenders. 

The  American  force  now  amounted  to  about  four 
thousand  men  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  One 
division  of  it,  the  right,  was  commanded  by  General 
Ross,  the  other  by  General  Coffee,  whose  line  extended 
so  far  in  the  swamp  that  his  men  stood  in  the  water 
during  the  day  and  at  night  slept  on  floating  logs 
made  fast  to  trees ;  every  man  "  half  a  horse  and  half 
an  alligator,"  as  the  song  says.  The  artillery  and 
the  fortifications  had  been  carefully  strengthened  and 


NEW  ORLEANS.  243 

repaired.  Another  line  of  defence  had  been  prepared 
a  mile  and  a  half  in  the  rear,  where  were  stationed  all 
who  were  not  well  armed  or  were  regarded  as  not 
able-bodied.  A  third  line,  for  another  stand  in  case 
of  defeat,  still  nearer  the  city,  was  being  vigorously 
worked  upon. 

Owing  to  the  caving  of  the  banks  of  the  canal, 
Thornton  could  get  only  enough  boats  launched  in  the 
river  to  carry  seven  hundred  of  his  men  across  :  these 
the  current  of  the  Mississippi  bore  a  mile  and  a  half 
below  the  landing-place  selected,  and  it  was  daylight 
before  they  reached  there. 

Gibbs  and  Keane  marched  their  divisions  to  within 
sight  of  the  dark  line  of  the  American  breastworks, 
and  waited  impatiently  for  the  signal  of  Thornton's 
guns.  Not  a  sound  could  be  heard  from  him.  In  fact 
he  had  not  yet  landed  his  men.  Although  sensible  that 
concert  of  action  with  the  troops  on  the  right  bank  had 
failed,  and  that  his  movement  was  hopelessly  crippled, 
Pakenham,  obstinate,  gallant,  and  reckless,  would, 
nevertheless,  not  rescind  his  first  orders.  When  the 
morning  mists  lifted,  his  columns  were  in  motion  across 
the  field. 

Gibbs  was  leading  his  division  coolly  and  steadily 
through  the  grape-shot  pouring  upon  it,  when  it  began 
to  be  whispered  among  the  men  that  the  Forty -fourth, 
who  were  detailed  for  the  duty,  had  not  brought  the 
ladders  and  fascines.  Pakenham  riding  to  the  front 
and  finding  it  was  true,  ordered  Colonel  Mullen  and 
the  delinquent  regiment  back  for  them.  In  the  con- 
fusion and  delay,  with  his  brave  men  falling  all  around 
him,  the  indignant  Gibbs  exclaimed  furiously:  "Let 
me  live  until  to-morrow,  and  I'll  hang  him  to  the  high- 


244  NEW  ORLEANS. 

est  tree  in  that  swamp  !  "  Rather  than  stand  exposed 
to  the  terrible  lire,  he  ordered  his  men  forward.  "  On 
they  went,"  says  Walker  (who  got  his  description  from 
eye-witnesses),  "in  solid,  compact  order,  the  men  hur- 
rahing and  the  rocketers  covering  their  front  with  a 
blaze  of  combustibles.  The  American  batteries  played 
upon  them  with  awful  effect,  cutting  great  lanes 
through  the  column  from  front  to  rear,  opening  huge 
gaps  in  their  flanks.  .  .  .  Still  the  column  advanced 
without  pause  or  recoil,  steadily ;  then  all  the  batteries 
in  the  American  line,  including  Patterson's  marine 
battery  on  the  right  bank,  joined  in  hurling  a  tornado 
of  iron  missiles  into  that  serried  scarlet  column,  which 
shook  and  oscillated  as  if  tossed  on  an  angry  sea. 
'Stand  to  your  guns!'  cried  Jackson,  'don't  waste 
your  ammunition,  see  that  every  shot  tells,'  and  again, 
'  Give  it  to  them,  boys  !  Let  us  finish  the  business  to- 
day." 

On  the  summit  of  the  parapet  stood  the  corps  of 
Tennessee  sharp-shooters,  with  their  rifles  sighted, 
and  behind  them,  two  lines  of  Kentuckians  to  take  their 
places  so  soon  as  they  had  fired.  The  redcoats  were 
now  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  ditch.  "  Fire ! 
Fire  !  "  Carroll's  order  rang  through  the  lines.  It  was 
obeyed,  not  hurriedly,  not  excitedly,  not  confusedly,  but 
calmly  and  deliberately,  the  men  calculating  the  range 
of  their  guns.  Not  a  shot  was  thrown  away.  Nor 
was  it  one  or  several  discharges,  followed  by  pauses  and 
interruptions  ;  it  was  continuous,  the  men  firing,  fall- 
ing back  and  advancing,  with  mechanical  precision.  The 
British  column  began  to  melt  away  under  it  like  snow 
before  a  torrent  ;  but  Gibbs  still  led  it  on,  and  the  gal- 
lant Peninsula  officers,  throwing  themselves  in  front, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  245 

incited  and  aroused  their  men  by  every  appeal  and  by 
the  most  brilliant  examples  of  courage.  "  Where  are 
the  Forty-fourth,"  called  the  men,  "  with  the  fascines 
and  ladders  ?  When  we  get  to  the  ditch  we  cannot  scale 
the  lines!  "  "  Here  come  the  Forty-fourth  !  "  shouted 
Gibbs,  "Here  come  the  Forty-fourth!  "  There  came, 
at  least,  a  detachment  of  the  Forty-fourth,  with  Pak- 
enham  himself  at  the  head,  rallying  and  inspiring  them, 
invoking  their  heroism  in  the  past,  reminding  them  of 
their  glory  in  Egypt  and  elsewhere,  calling  them  his 
countrymen,  leading  them  forward,  until  they  breasted 
the  storm  of  bullets  with  the  rest  of  the  column.  At 
this  moment  Pakenham's  arm  was  struck  by  one  ball, 
his  horse  killed  by  another.  He  mounted  the  small 
black  Creole  pony  of  his  aid .  and  pressed  forward.  But 
the  column  had  now  reached  the  physical  limit  of 
daring.  Most  of  the  officers  were  cut  down;  there 
were  not  enough  left  to  command.  The  column  broke. 
Some  rushed  forward  to  the  ditch ;  the  rest  fell  back  to 
the  swamp.  There  they  rallied,  reformed,  and  throw- 
ing off  their  knapsacks  advanced  again,  and  again  were 
beaten  back  ;  their  colonel  scaling  the  breastworks  and 
falling  dead  inside  the  lines. 

Keane,  judging  the  moment  had  come  for  him  to  act, 
now  wheeled  his  line  into  column  and  pushed  forward 
with  the  Ninety-third  in  front.  The  gallant,  stalwart 
Highlanders,  with  their  heavy,  solid,  massive  front 
of  a  hundred  men,  their  muskets  glittering  in  the 
morning  sun,  their  tartans  waving  in  the  air,  strode 
across  the  field  and  into  the  hell  of  bullets  and  cannon 
balls.  "Hurrah!  brave  Highlanders!"  Pakenham 
cried  to  them,  waving  Ids  cap  in  his  left  hand.  Fired 
by  their  intrepidity,  the  remnant  of  Gibbs's  brigade 


246  NEW  ORLEANS. 

once  more  came  up  to  the  charge,  with  Pakenham  on 
the  left  and  Gibbs  on  the  right. 

A  shot  from  one  of  the  American  big  guns  crashed . 
into  them,  killing  and  wounding  all  around.  Paken- 
ham's  horse  fell;  he  rolled  into  the  arms  of  an  officer 
who  sprang  forward  to  receive  him;  a  grape-shot  had 
passed  through  his  thigh ;  another  ball  struck  him  in 
the  groin.  He  was  borne  to  the  rear,  and  in  a  few 
moments  breathed  his  last  under  an  oak.  The  bent  and 
twisted,  venerable  old  tree  still  stands,  Pakenham's 
oak,  it  is  called. 

Gibbs,  desperately  wounded,  lingered  in  agony  until 
the  next  day.     Keane  was  carried  bleeding  off  the  field. 


There  were  no  field  officers  now  left  to  command  or 
rally.  Major  Wilkinson  however,  —  we  like  to  remem- 
ber his  name,  —  shouting  to  his  men  to  follow,  passed 
the  ditch,  climbed  up  the  breastworks,  and  was  raising 
his  head  and  shoulders  over  the  parapet,  when  a  dozen 
guns  pointed  against  him  riddled  him  with  bullets. 
His  mutilated  body  was  carried  through  the  Ameri- 
can lines,  followed  by  murmurs  of  sympathy  and  regret 
from  the  Tennesseeans  and  Kentuckians.  "  Bear  up, 
my  dear  fellow,  you  are  too  brave  to  die,"  bade  a  kind- 
hearted  Kentucky  major.  "  I  thank  you  from  my 
heart,"  faintly  murmured  the  young  officer  ;  "  it  is  all 


NEW  ORLEANS.  247 

over  with  me.  You  can  render  me  a  favour.  It  is  to 
communicate  to  my  commander  that  I  fell  on  your 
parapet,  and  died  like  a  soldier  and  true  Englishman." 

The  British  troops  at  last  broke,  disorganized,  each 
regiment  leaving  two-thirds  dead  or  wounded  on  the 
field.  The  Ninety-third,  which  had  gone  into  the  charge 
nine  hundred  men  strong,  mustered  after  the  retreat 
one  hundred  and  thirty-nine.  The  fight  had  lasted 
twenty -five  minutes. 

Hearing  of  the  death  of  Pakenham  and  the  wounding 
of  Gibbs  and  Keane,  General  Lambert  advanced  with 
the  reserve.  Just  before  he  received  his  last  wound, 
Pakenham  had  ordered  one  of  his  staff  to  call  up  the 
reserve,  but  as  the  bugler  was  about  to  sound  the 
advance,  his  arm  was  struck  with  a  ball  and  his  bugle 
fell  to  the  ground.  The  order,  therefore,  was  never 
given,  and  the  reserve  marched  up  only  to  cover  the 
retreat  of  the  two  other  brigades. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  firing  ceased  from  the  American 
lines,  and  Jackson,  with  his  staff,  slowly  walked  along 
his  fortifications,  stopping  at  each  command  to  make  a 
short  address.  As  he  passed,  the  bands  struck  up 
"  Hail  Columbia,"  and  the  line  of  men,  turning  to  face 
him,  burst  into  loud  hurrahs. 

But  the  cries  of  exultation  died  away  into  exclama- 
tions of  pity  and  horror  as  the  smoke  ascended  from 
the  field.  A  thin,  fine  red  line  in  the  distance,  dis- 
covered by  glasses,  indicated  the  position  of  General 
Lambert  and  the  reserve.  Upon  the  field,  save  the 
crawling,  agonizing  wounded,  not  a  living  foe  was  to 
be  seen.  From  the  American  ditch,  one  could  have 
walked  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  the  killed  and  disabled. 
The  course  of  the  column  could  be  distinctly  traced 


248  NEW  ORLEANS. 

by  the  broad  red  line  of  uniforms  upon  the  ground. 
They  fell  in  their  tracks,  in  some  places  whole  platoons 
together.  Dressed  in  their  gay  uniforms,  cleanly 
shaved  and  attired  for  the  promised  victory,  there  was 
not,  as  Walker  says,  a  private  among  the  slain  whose 
aspect  did  not  present  more  of  the  pomp  and  cir- 
cumstance of  war  than  any  of  the  commanders  of  their 
victors. 

About  noon,  a  British  officer,  with  a  trumpeter  and  a 
soldier  bearing  a  white  flag,  approached  the  camp,  bear- 
ing a  Avritten  proposition  for  an  armistice  to  bury  the 
dead.  It  was  signed  "Lambert."  General  Jackson 
returned  it,  with  a  message  that  the  signer  of  the  letter 
had  forgotten  to  designate  his  authority  and  rank, 
which  was  necessary  before  any  negotiations  could  be 
entered  into.  The  flag  of  truce  retired  to  the  British 
lines,  and  soon  returned  with  the  full  signature,  "John 
Lambert,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  British  forces." 

On  the  right  bank  of  the  river  it  was  the  British 
who  were  victorious.  The  Americans,  yielding  to 
panic,  fled  disgracefully,  as  people  with  shame  relate 
to  this  day.  It  was  on  this  side  of  the  river  that  the 
British  acquired  the  small  flag  which  hangs  among  the 
trophies  of  the  Peninsular  War,  in  Whitehall,  with 
the  inscription  :  "  Taken  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
January  8,  1815." 

The  bodies  of  the  officers  were  first  delivered.  Some 
of  them  were  buried  that  night  in  Villere's  garden  by 
torch-light;  the  rest  were  hastily  interred  in  the  rear 
of  Bienvenu's  plantation  ;  the  remains  of  Gibbs  and 
Pakenham  were  conveyed  to  England.  Of  the  six 
thousand  men  who  made  the  attack  on  Jackson's  lines, 
the  British  report  a  loss  of  nineteen  hundred  and 


NEW  ORLEANS.  249 

twenty-nine.  The  American  estimates  increase  this  to 
two  thousand  six  hundred.  The  Americans  had  eight 
men  killed  and  thirteen  wounded. 

The  prisoners  and  wounded  were  sent  to  the  city. 
Some  of  the  little  boys  of  the  time,  now  in  their  nine- 
ties, who  watched  the  slow,  sad  cortege,  tell  of  their 
childish  pity  and  sympathy  for  them,  and  their  admi- 
ration for  the  great,  tall,  handsome  prisoners,  in  their 
fine  uniforms. 

The  citizens  pressed  forward  to  tender  their  aid  for 
the  wounded.  The  hospitals  being  crowded,  private 
houses  were  thrown  open,  and  the  quadroon  nurses,  the 
noted  quadroon  nurses  of  the  city,  offered  their  ser- 
vices and  gave  their  best  skill  and  care  at  the  bedside 
of  the  English  sufferers. 

As  soon  as  the  armistice  expired,  the  American  bat- 
teries resumed  their  firing.  Colonel  Thornton  with 
his  men  recrossed  the  river  during  the  night  of  the 
eighth.  From  the  ninth  to  the  eighteenth  a  small 
squadron  of  the  British  fleet  made  an  ineffectual  at- 
tempt to  pass  Fort  St.  Philip.  Had  it  timed  its  action 
better  with  Pakenham's,  his  defeat  might  at  least  have 
cost  his  enemies  dearer. 

On  the  18th  of  January  took  place  the  exchange  of 
prisoners,  and  New  Orleans  received  again  her  sorely 
missed  citizens.  Although  their  detention  from  the 
stirring  scenes  of  the  camp  formed  in  their  lives  one 
of  the  unforgivable  offences  of  destiny,  their  courteous, 
kindly,  pleasant  treatment  by  the  British  naval  officers 
was  one  of  the  reminiscences  which  gilded  the  memo- 
ries of  the  period. 

Sir  John  Lambert's  retreat  was  the  ablest  measure 
of  the  British  campaign.  To  retire  in  boats  was  im- 


250  NEW  ORLEANS. 

practicable  ;  there  were  not  boats  enough,  and  it  was 
not  safe  to  divide  the  army.  A  road  was  therefore 
opened,  along  the  bank  of  the  bayou,  across  the  prairie  to 
the  lake,  a  severe  and  difficult  task  that  occupied  nine 
days.  All  the  wounded,  except  those  who  could  not 
be  removed,  the  field  artillery  and  stores,  were  placed 
in  barges  and  conveyed  to  the  fleet,  the  ship  guns  were 
spiked,  and  on  the  night  of  the  eighteenth  the  army 
was  stealthily  and  quietly  formed  into  column.  The 
camp-fires  were  lighted  as  usual,  the  sentinels  posted, 
each  one  provided  with  a  stuffed  dummy  to  put  in  his 
stead  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  join  the  inarch 
in  the  rear  of  the  column.  They  marched  all  night, 
reaching  the  shores  of  Lake  Borgne  at  break  of  day. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  nineteenth,  rumour::  of  the 
retreat  of  the  English  began  to  circulate  in  the  Ameri- 
can camp.  Officers  and  men  collected  in  groups  on 
the  parapet  to  survey  the  British  camp.  It  presented 
pretty  much  the  same  appearance  as  usual,  with  its 
huts,  flags,  and  sentinels.  General  Jackson,  looking 
through  his  telescope  from  Macarty's  window,  could 
not  convince  himself  that  the  enemy  had  gone.  At 
last  General  Humbert,  one  of  Napoleon's  veterans,  was 
called  upon  for  his  opinion.  He  took  a  look  through 
the  telescope,  and  immediately  exclaimed  :  "  They  are 
gone  ! "  When  asked  the  reason  for  his  belief,  he 
pointed  to  a  crow  flying  very  near  one  of  the  sentinels. 

While  a  recomioitering  party  was  being  formed,  a 
flag  of  truce  approached.  It  brought  a  courteous  letter 
from  General  Lambert,  announcing  the  departure  of  the 
British  army,  and  soliciting  the  kind  attentions  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson  to  the  sick  and  wounded,  whom  he  was 
compelled  to  leave  behind.  The  circumstances  of  these 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


251 


wounded  men  being  made  known  in  the  city,  a  number 
of  ladies  drove  immediately  down  the  coast  in  their 
carriages  with  articles  for  their  comfort. 

The  British  fleet  left  the  Gulf  shores  on  the  17th 
of  March.  When  it  reached  England,  it  received  the 
news  that  Napoleon  had  escaped  and  that  Europe  was 
up  again  in  arms.  Most  of  the  troops  were  at  once 
re-embarked  for  Belgium,  to  join  Wellington's  army. 
General  Lambert,  knighted  for  gallantry  at  New  Or- 
leans, distinguished  himself  at  Waterloo. 

A  handsome  tablet  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London, 
commemorates  Pakenham's  gallant  life  and  heroic 
death. 

Walker  relates  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  after 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  always  cherished  a  great 
admiration  for  General  Jackson,  and  when  introduced 
to  American  visitors  never  failed  to  inquire  after  his 
health. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

TACKSON  entered  the  city  the  20th  of  January; 
*J  on  the  twenty-third  was  celebrated  the  public 
thanksgiving  for  the  victory.  This  was  the  proudest 
and  happiest  day  in  the  life  of  the  city.  A  salute  of 
artillery  greeted  its  sunrise,  a  sunrise  as  radiant  as  the 
one  that  ushered  in  the  day  of  the  victory. 

In  the  Place  d'Armes  —  would  that  Bienville  and 
his  Canadians  might  have  seen  it !  —  arose  a  great 
triumphal  arch,  supported  on  six  Corinthian  pillars 
festooned  with  evergreens  and  flowers,  its  entrance 
guarded  by  Liberty  and  Justice,  in  the  blooming  forms 
of  two  beautiful  young  girls.  Beside  them,  posed  on 
pedestals,  two  cherubs,  or  children,  held  outstretched  a 
laurel  wreath.  From  the  arch  to  the  cathedral  stood 
facing  one  another  the  states  and  territories,  the  loveli- 
est young  ladies  of  the  city,  dressed  in  white,  with  blue 
veils  fastened  by  silver  stars  on  their  brows,  each  one 
holding  in  one  hand  a  banner  emblazoned  with  her 
national  title,  in  the  other  a  basket  tied  with  blue 
ribbon,  filled  with  flowers.  Behind  each  a  lance  stuck 
in  the  ground  bore  a  shield  with  the  motto  and  seal 

252 


NEW  ORLEANS.  253 

of  the  state  or  territory  represented,  and  the  lances 
were  festooned  together  with  garlands  of  flowers  and 
evergreens,  extending  over  the  street  to  the  wreathed 
and  decorated  door  of  the  cathedral. 

The  crowd  gathers  until  every  place  is  packed.  As 
the  cathedral  clock  strikes  the  hour  appointed,  General 
Jackson,  followed  by  his  staff,  appears  at  the  river  gate 
of  the  square.  Salvos  of  artillery,  bursts  of  music,  and 
wild  huzzas  greet  him ;  he  crosses  the  square  and 
mounts  the  steps  of  the  triumphal  arch.  At  the  en- 
trance, he  is  arrested,  while  the  cherubs,  with  blushing 
faces  and  timid  hands,  place  the  laurel  wreath  upon  his 
head  ;  and  wilder  acclamations  from  the  crowd  drown 
the  music,  as  it  would  have  drowned  the  artillery  had 
it  continued.  So  crowned,  the  hero  passes  through 
the  arch,  and  is  met,  not  by  Venus,  but  by  Louisiana, 
dazzlingly  radiant  in  all  her  youth,  beauty,  and  Creole 
grace  and  charm.  She  recites  a  speech  as  glowing  as 
herself  with  gratitude  and  emotion,  to  which  the  gen- 
eral replies  with  no  less  emotion,  that  his  merits  have 
been  exalted  far  above  their  worth.  As  he  descends 
the  steps  and  proceeds  down  the  path  to  the  cathe- 
dral, the  states  and  territories  shower  their  flowers 
through  the  air,  and  the  ground  blossoms  under  his 
feet.  At  the  cathedral  door  stands  the  Abbe  Dubourg 
in  full  pontificals,  at  the  head  of  his  priests.  He  also 
addresses  a  speech  to  Jackson,  praising  him  for  the  vic- 
tory, but  solemnly  reminding  him  of  the  Giver  of  all 
victories,  to  which  again  Jackson  replies  modestly  and 
humbly.  He  is  led  through  the  crowded  church  to 
a  seat  of  honour  before  the  brilliant  high  altar,  the 
gallant  Battalion  d' Orleans,  in  full  uniform,  files  into 
the  aisles,  the  majestic  Te  Deum  rises  from  organ  and 


254  NEW  ORLEANS. 

choir.      At    night  the  whole   city  is  illuminated,  and 
balls  and  festivities  hold  the  hours  until  dawn. 

The  celebration,  however,  ended  not  with  that  day; 
the  victory  seemed  only  to  have  begun  in  New  Orleans. 
For  half  a  century  afterwards  the  city  appeared  ever  on 
a  passage  through  triumphal  arches,  with  states  and  ter- 
ritories throwing  flowers  in  her  path.  There  was  no 
discussion  thereafter  over  the  question  of  her  eligibility 
to  a  place  in  the  Union,  nor  of  the  political  equality  of 
her  citizens  with  the  Americans.  Year  after  year  trav- 
ellers from  all  over  the  continent  and  from  Europe 
came  to  view  the  spot  where  the  conquerors  of  Napo- 
leon had  been  conquered,  and  to  meet  the  heroes  who 
had  accomplished  it.  The  glorious  8th  of  January 
eclipsed  every  other  fete  day  in  the  city ;  its  annual 
parade  is  one  of  the  great  memories  of  the  happy  child- 
hood before  the  civil  war.  Not  a  negro  nurse  but, 
with  face  as  bright  as  her  Madras  kerchief,  could  name 
the  heroes  of  the  Battalion  d' Orleans  as  it  passed,  and 
tell  of  the  great  battle  they  had  won,  always  linking 
in  the  company  of  the  freemen  of  colour,  with  the 
heroism  and  patriotism  of  the  whites.  They  were  all 
Hectors  and  Achilleses  to  the  proud  children!  And 
Jordan  —  but  no  one,  not  even  the  grand  officers  nor 
grander  visitors  in  the  parade,  ever  fired  the  childish 
heart  so  much  as  he  —  the  young  mulatto  drummer, 
who  beat  his  drum  during  all  and  every  fight,  in  the 
hottest  hell  of  the  fire,  and  was  complimented  by 
Jackson  himself  after  the  battle.  Long  after  the  civil 
war,  childhood  can  remember  "  Old  Jordan ''  as  he  was 
then  called,  an  aged  mulatto  in  uniform,  beating  his  old 
Chalmette  drum  in  the  parade,  at  the  head  of  the  white- 
haired,  bent-backed,  feebly-stepping  veterans  of  1812. 


If) 


!£ 


NEW  ORLEANS.  257 

Even  prosperity  fails  to  obliterate  such  memories  ! 
And  the  prosperity  that  gilded  the  prophetic  vision  of 
Law  now  showered  upon  the  city, — just  one  century 
too  late  for  Law  and  for  the  city's  royal  godfather. 
Statistics  alone  are  the  proper  chroniclers  of  it.  From 
eight  thousand  at  the  time  of  the  cession,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  city  arose  to  thirty -three  thousand  the  year 
after  the  battle ;  by  1819  it  was  forty-one  thousand, 
ten  years  later  fifty  thousand,  in  1840,  one  hundred 
thousand,  and  New  Orleans  ranked  fourth  in  the  Union, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  alone  outnum- 
bering her.  In  1812  the  first  steamboat  came  down 
the  river  to  the  city ;  in  1821  there  were  two  hundred 
and  eighty-seven  arrivals  of  steamboats.  The  year 
after  the  battle  the  harbour  was  white  with  sails,  and 
fifteen  hundred  flatboats  and  five  hundred  barges  tied 
up  at  their  landing.  As  many  as  six  thousand  flat- 
boatmen  at  a  time  trooped  in  the  streets.  The  city 
walls  were  thrown  down,  the  forts  demolished,  the 
moat  was  filled  and  made  into  boulevards  :  Canal,  Ram- 
part, and  Esplanade.  The  old  Marquis  de  Marigny 
turned  his  plantation  into  blocks  and  streets  :  Love, 
Greatmen,  Good  Children,  Piety,  with  a  few  fixed 
names,  Mandeville,  Marigny,  Kerlerec,  Champs  Elysees, 
Enghien.  This  section  of  the  city  is  still  called  by 
the  old-fashioned,  Faubourg  Marigny,  or  the  "  third " 
municipality. 

The  landing  for  flatboats  and  barges  had  been 
located  by  the  Spanish  government  outside  the  city 
walls,  along  the  willow-grown  bank  in  front  of  the 
Tchoupitoulas  road,  which  fixed  it  as  the  quarter 
for  American  settlement.  This  was  in  front  of  the  old 
Jesuits'  plantation,  extending  from  the  Terre  Commune, 


258  NEW  OELEANS. 

or  government  reservation,  outside  the  walls,  to  the 
line  marked  by  Delord  street,  which  was  then  owned 
by  Bertrand  and  Marie  Gravier.  In  the  business 
reaction  after  the  great  conflagration  of  Miro's  time, 
they  divided  their  tract  of  land  into  lots  and  streets, 
and  found  ready  investors  in  it.  It  was  called  Ville 
Gravier,  until  Jean  Gravier  changed  it  to  Faubourg  Ste. 
Marie,  in  honour  of  his  mother.  The  Tchoupitoulas 
road  became  Tchoupitoulas  street.  The  government 
storehouses  for  Kentucky  tobacco,  just  outside  the 
Terre  Commune,  gave  Magazine  street  its  Spanish 
name,  Calle  del  Almazen.  The  Campo  de  Negros,  or 
Negro  Camp,  named  Camp  street,  beyond  which,  stretch- 
ing out  to  the  swamp,  were  the  truck  gardens  that  sup- 
plied the  markets.  The  first  street  crossing  the  Fau- 
bourg Ste.  Marie  was  Gravier  street,  running  into  the 
swamp.  At  the  end  of  it,  about  the  rear  of  the  Poy- 
dras  market,  stood  the  old  plantation  house  and  home 
of  Jean  Gravier.  Poydras,  Girod,  and  Julia,  a  free 
coloured  woman,  named  the  streets  which  defined  their 
investments  on  the  river  front.  The  Terre  Commune 
became  Common  street ;  the  Faubourg  Ste.  Marie  be- 
came the  second  municipality  of  the  city,  and,  ever 
attracting  the  American  settlers,  it  stretched  upwards, 
taking  in,  one  after  another,  the  old  historic  plantations. 
The  electric  car  of  to-day  speeds  through  the  cane- 
fields,  negro  quarters,  gardens,  parks,  and  pastures  of 
these  old  plantations.  Every  now  and  then,  in  the 
Garden  District,  the  eye  lights  upon  a  venerable  oak  or 
a  great  solitary  pecan  tree,  which  stands  amid  the  spick 
and  span  improvements  about  it,  the  last  of  a  great 
grove  or  avenue  of  a  century  ago.  The  Garden  District 
proper  covers  the  old  De  Bore  plantation,  which  had 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


259 


been  the  property  of  the  patriot  Masan,  condemned  by 
O'Reilly  to  ten  years'  imprisonment  in  Moro  Castle, 


Havana.     It  was  the  first  place  in  the  state  upon  which 
sugar  was  made,  and,  the  childhood  home  of  Charles 


260  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Gayarre,  it  was  that  "  Louisiana  sugar  plantation 
under  the  old  regime "  of  which  he  has  written  so 
charmingly  and  to  which  he  loved,  in  his  old,  old  age, 
to  take  his  friends  in  conversation.  There  was  not  one 
of  his  intimates  but  could,  with  easy  imagination,  sub- 
stitute personal  for  oral  knowledge  of  it;  the  avenue 
of  pecan  trees  that  lead  from  the  high  road  to  the  great 
moat,  alive  with  fish,  with  on  its  farther  bank  a  thick 
hedge  of  yucca,  or  Spanish  dagger,  —  a  transcendent 
sight  in  the  spring,  when  every  staff  bore  its  spike 
of  ethereally  beautiful  waxen  white  flowers,  swinging 
and  swaying  in  the  breeze  ;  the  grass-covered  rampart 
crowned  by  its  formidable  brick  wall ;  with  its  hedge 
inside  of  wild  orange  ;  the  avenue  to  the  house,  shaded 
with  sweet  orange  trees,  also  in  spring  and  autumn 
redolent  and  beautiful  beyond  description  ;  and  the 
house  itself,  —  a  veritable  treasure-house  of  anecdotes, 
historical  and  convivial,  with  its  archetypal  master 
and  Louisiana  planter,  M.  de  Bore*,  whom  we,  see  as 
his  grandson  loved  to  picture  him,  in  the  dawn  at 
the  beginning  of  the  day's  work,  and  at  the  afternoon 
close  of  it,  with  his  slaves  kneeling  to  their  prayers 
before  him. 

Indigo  was  the  staple  and  profitable  product  of  the 
Louisiana  plantations  until  a  worm  made  its  appear- 
ance and  destroyed  crop  after  crop.  Ruin  stared  the 
planters  in  the  face.  Cane  grew  as  well  as  indigo  in 
the  soil,  but  all  efforts  to  make  sugar  out  of  it  had 
failed.  The  syrup  would  not  granulate,  and  at  last 
popular  belief  would  have  it,  that  syrup  made  from 
cane  grown  in  Louisiana  soil  could  not  granulate.  It 
was  a  sort  of  popular  reasoning  that  has  spurred 
many  a  sensible  man  to  a  successful  experiment.  De 


NEW  ORLEANS.  261 

Bore  invested  his  and  his  wife's  fortune  in  seed  cane; 
planted,  prepared  his  mill,  and  engaged  Cuban  sugar- 
makers.  The  day  of  the  roulaison  a  crowd  of  planters 
gathered  in  his  sugar-house,  standing  along  the  side  of 
the  kettles,  turning  their  eyes  from  the  boiling  juice  to 
the  sugar-maker,  with  the  strained  interest  of  players 
looking  from  the  cards  to  the  dealer,  at  a  rouge-et-noir 
table.  Would  it  granulate  ?  would  it  not  granulate  ? 
The  sugar-maker  tested  —  tested ;  "Not."  "Not."  "It 
granulates  !  "  at  last  he  called  in  triumphant  voice.  It 
was,  to  the  colonists,  as  if  the  gold  mines  hoped  for  by 
La  Salle  had  been  found. 

Of  M.  de  Bore's  wife,  a  Des  Trehans,  daughter  of 
the  Royal  Treasurer  and  a  pupil  of  St.  Cyr,  old  beaux 
of  her  day  used  to  say  that  it  was  worth  a  fifty-mile 
journey  merely  to  see  her  take  a  pinch  of  snuff. 

The  plantation  above,  which  extended  over  Audubon 
Park,  belonged  to  Pierre  Foucher,  a  son-in-law  of  M. 
de  Bore;  the  next  place  above,  taking  in  Carrollton, 
had  belonged  to  the  unfortunate  Lafre"niere  ;  it  was  at 
that  time  the  property  of  Mademoiselle  de  Macarty, 
who  was  Madame  de  Bore's  intimate  friend  as  well  as 
neighbour,  and,  like  her,  had  been  educated  at  Madame 
de  Maintenon's  institution  for  the  proper  education  of 
proper  young  ladies.  It  certainly  was  worth  travelling 
fifty  miles  to  hear  Mademoiselle  de  Macarty  described 
by  the  nonagenarian  historian  and  see  one  of  her  visits 
to  his  grandmother  acted.  Her  carriage,  a  curiosity 
unique  in  the  colony,  was  called  a  chaise ;  it  was  like  a 
modern  coupe,  but  smaller,  with  sides  and  front  of  glass. 
There  was  no  coachman;  a  postilion  rode  one  of  the 
spirited  horses,  a  little  black  rascal  of  a  postilion,  who 
always  rode  so  fast  and  so  wildly  that  his  tiny  cape 


262  NEW  ORLEANS. 

stood  straight  out  behind  like  wings.  When,  in  a  cloud 
of  dust,  the  vehicle  turned  into  the  Pecan  avenue,  the 
little  darkeys  stationed  there  as  lookouts  would  shriek 
out  in  shrill  excitement,  to  get  the  announcement  to  the 
great  gates  ahead  of  the  horses:  "Mamzelle  Macarty  a 
pe  vini!  "  And  there  would  be  a  rush  inside,  to  throw 
the  gates  open  in  time.  And  his  cape  flying  more  wildly 
than  ever,  his  elbows  beating  the  air  more  furiously,  the 
postilion  would  gallop  his  horses  in  a  sweeping  circle 
through  the  great  courtyard  and  bring  them  panting 
to  a  brilliant  finale  before  the  carriage  step.  M.  de  Bore 
would  be  standing  there,  ready,  with  his  lowest  bow,  to 
open  the  carriage  door  and  hand  the  fair  one  out,  and 
lead  her  at  arm's  length,  with  a  stately  minuet  step, 
up  the  broad  brick  stairs  and  through  the  hall,  to  the 
door  of  the  salon,  where  they  would  face  each  other,  and 
he  would  again  bow,  and  she  would  drop  a  curtsey  into 
the  very  hem  of  her  gown  —  her  Louis  XIV.  gown,  for 
from  head  to  foot  she  always  dressed  in  an  exact  copy 
of  the  costume  of  Madame  de  Maintenon.  That  is,  all 
to  her  arms,  which  were  in  Mademoiselle  de  Macarty's 
youth  so  extremely  beautiful  that  she  never  overcame 
the  habit,  even  in  extreme  cold  weather  and  old  age,  of 
exhibiting  them  bare  to  the  shoulder.  The  mystery 
why,  with  her  great  wealth  and  great  beauty,  she  had 
never  married,  remained  a  vivid  one  —  even  when  old 
age  had  effaced  everything  except  the  fame  of  her  radi- 
ant youth. 

The  De  Bore  town  house  was  on  Chartres  and  Conti 
streets,  a  massive  brick  building,  with  a  large  courtyard 
opening  on  Conti  street,  a  true  Spanish  building  ;  broad 
doorways,  windows,  rooms,  hall,  a  staircase  fit  for  a 
palace  and  beautiful  enough  for  one,  with  its  elaborate, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  263 

fantastic,  handwrought  iron  railing ;  the  roof  was  a 
solid  terrace,  surrounded  by  a  stone  balustrade.  It 
was  afterwards  owned  by  Madame  de  la  Chaise.  The 
Des  Trehans  hotel  stood  opposite.  Both  have  been 
demolished  to  make  room  for  business  buildings.  But 
the  house  of  Madame  Poree,  another  member  of  the 
same  family,  still  stands  on  the  corner  of  Dumaine  and 
Royal  streets,  looking  just  as  it  did  on  the  brilliant 
December  day  when  the  little  Charles  Gayarre  saw  its 
iron-balustraded  balcony  filled  with  ladies,  waving  their 
handkerchiefs  to  the  Creole  troops  hurrying  down  to 
the  plains  of  Chalmette;  or  when,  on  the  8th  of  Jan- 
uary, the  roar  of  the  cannon  subsiding,  hearts  were 
beating  every  instant  more  fearfully  and  anxiously, 
the  clatter  of  horses'  feet  was  heard  and  women  and 
children  rushing  out  upon  it  as  they  did  upon  all  the 
balconies  around,  —  "  Victory  !  Victory  !"  was  shouted 
to  them  by  a  young  Creole  galloping  through  the 
streets. 

The  old  Spanish  building  opposite  the  side  of  the 
Cabildo,  on  St.  Peter  and  Chartres  streets,  was,  at  this 
time,  the  restaurant  "  La  veau  qui  tete,''  famed  for  its 
wine  and  cooking  and  its  patronage  by  the  tlite.  Be- 
low, on  Chartres,  between  Dumaine  and  St.  Philip,  was 
the  old  Cafe  des  Emigres,  the  headquarters  for  the 
St.  Domingans,  where  their  favourite  liquor,  "  le  petit 
gouave,"  „,  as  concocted. 

In  passing  along  the  streets  to-day  in  the  French  quar- 
ter, one  can  understand  with  a  sigh  of  regret,  the  easy 
sociability  which  then  made  the  whole  beau  monde  one 
and  a  congenial  set,  the  ideal  of  all  society  and  an  im- 
possible one  now,  with  the  accumulation  of  population, 
the  great  separation  of  distances,  and  the  segregative 


264  NEW  ORLEANS. 

rules  of  neighbourhood.  In  the  gay  season  then  the 
whole  city  was  one  neighbourhood,  what  one  really  could 
call  a  neighbourhood,  courtyard  doors  all  open,  balconj 
touching  balcony,  terrace  looking  on  to  terrace.  Society 
was  close,  contiguous,  continuous.  There  were  no  sum- 
mer trips  then  beyond  the  atmosphere  of  Louisiana, 
none  of  the  periodical  separations  which,  year  after 
year,  like  the  effect! v:  dropping  of  water  upon  a  stone, 
break  through  the  union  of  families  and  friends,  non 
vi  sed  saep?  ^adendo.  Then,  when  after  the  voyage  de 
rigueur  to  France,. not  one  year,  but  a  series  of  years, 
held  families  fixed  in  the  same  place,  with  the  same 
surroundings,  in  touch  with  the  same  affections  and 
interests,  friendship  became  a  habit  and  an  inheritance 
in  what  are  called  the  old  families  (and  so  distinguish- 
ing them  from  the  new  ones),  as  can  be  shown  by  many 
an  heir,  to  this  day,  among  blacks  as  well  as  whites. 
In  spite  of  epidemics,  summer  was  then  so  far  away  from 
the  disfavour  of  to-day  that  in  the  accounts  that  come 
to  us,  it  seems  as  attractive  as  winter;  the  early  ris- 
ing and  morning  cup  of  coffee  ;  the  great  courtyard, 
stretched  open  for  all  the  breezes  and  all  the  world  that 
choose  to  enter ;  the  figs,  pomegranates,  bananas,  crape 
myrtles  and  oleanders,  glittering  in  their  dew;  the 
calls  in  the  street,  musical  negro  cries,  heralding  vege- 
tables, fruits,  and  sweets:  "Belle  des  figues!  "  "Belle 
des  figues!"  "Bons  petits  calas!'  -'Tout  chauds! 
Tout  chauds!  "  "Barataria!  Barataria!  "  "Confitures 
coco!"  "Pralines,  Pistache!  Pralines,  Pacanes; "  the 
family  marchande,  coming  into  the  courtyard  swaying 
her  body  on  her  hips  to  balance  the  basket  on  her  head, 
sitting  on  the  steps  to  give  the  morning  news  to  the 
family  sitting  around  the  breakfast-table  on  the  gal- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  265 

lery;  the  dining-room  on  the  rez  de  chauss£e  and  open- 
ing into  the  street  for  all  passers-by  to  see,  if  they 
would,  the  great  family  board  (there  were  no  small 
families  in  the  ancient  regime),  and  the  pompous  but- 
ler and  the  assistant  "gardienne,"  in  bright  head- 
kerchief,  gold-hook  earrings,  white  fichu,  and  gay 
flowered  gown  ;  the  promenade  after  dinner,  on  the 
tree-shaded  levee,  to  enjoy  the  evening  breeze  and 
meet  with  every  one  one  knew  .  .  .  and  see  the  con- 
stant wonder  of  new  ships  arriving  ...  at  night  the 
chairs  on  terraces  and  balconies  brought  close  to  boun- 
dary lines,  for  the  ladies  to  exchange  those  confidences 
which  keep  family  secrets  from  dying  out,  while  the 
men,  as  the  phrase  was,  are  enjoying  themselves.  .  .  . 
These  were  features  of  the  summer  life  in  the  city  in 
those  days. 

The  travellers  of  that  time  in  the  United  States,  the 
European  ones,  especially,  liked  the  place,  and  were 
fond  of  comparing  it  with  the  cities  of  the  North.  The 
Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar,  Eisenach,  who  visited  New 
Orleans,  in  1825-26,  publishes  quite  frankly:  "It  was 
naturally  agreeable  to  me,  after  wandering  a  long  time 
in  mere  wilderness,  once  more  to  come  into  a  long  civ- 
ilized country."  He  landed  at  Bayou  St.  John,  and 
finding  that  a  boat  to  the  city  would  cost  six  dollars, 
he  walked  in.  After  three  miles,  "  We  found  ourselves 
quite  in  another  world,  plantations  with  handsome 
buildings,  followed  in  quick  succession,  noble  live-oaks, 
orange  trees,  mansions  with  columns,  piazzas  and  cov- 
ered galleries.  .  .  .  We  saw  from  a  distance  the  white 
spires  of  the  cathedral  and  masts  in  port  .  .  .  passed 
the  canal  upon  a  turning  bridge  to  strike  into  the  city 
by  a  nearer  way  .  .  .  the  road  led  between  well-built; 


266  NEW   ORLEANS. 

mansions ;  over  the  streets  were  hung  reflecting  lamps. 
.  .  .  Ships  lay  four  or  five  deep  in  tiers  along  the 
river.  In  a  line  with  the  bank  stood  houses  two  or 
three  stories  high,  also  ancient  mansion  houses  known 
by  their  heavy,  solid  style." 

The  Duke  visited  Mr.  Grymes  (who  had  married  the 
beautiful  widow  of  Governor  Claiborne).  They  lived, 
he  says,  in  a  large  massive  and  splendidly  furnished 
house,  and  they  made  a  great  display  at  a  dinner  party 
given  him.  "  After  the  second  course,  large  folding 
doors  opened  and  we  beheld  another  dining-room  in 
which  stood  a  table  with  the  dessert,  at  which  we  seated 
ourselves  in  the  same  order  as  at  the  first." 

The  Duke  made  up  his  mind  to  pass  the  season  in 
the  city.  "  No  day  passed  over  this  winter,"  he  writes, 
"  which  did  not  produce  something  pleasant  and  inter- 
esting .  .  .  dinners,  evening  parties,  masquerades  and 
other  amusements  followed  close  on  each  other." 
"  There  were  masked  balls  every  night  of  the  Carnival 
at  the  French  theatre,  which  had  a  handsome  saloon, 
well  ornamented  with  mirrors,  with  three  rows  of 
seats  arranged  en  amphitheatre.  Tuesdays  and  Fridays 
were  the  nights  for  the  subscription  balls,  where  none 
but  good  society  were  admitted.  The  ladies  are  very 
pretty,  with  a  genteel  French  air,  their  dress,  extremely 
elegant,  after  the  latest  Paris  fashion ;  they  dance 
excellently.  Two  cotillions  and  a  waltz  were  danced 
in  quick  succession  ;  the  musicians  were  coloured  and 
pretty  good.  The  gentlemen,  who  were  far  behind  the 
ladies  in  elegance,  did  not  long  remain,  but  hastened 
away  to  other  balls,  and  so,  many  of  the  ladies  were 
condemned  to  'make  tapestry.'  .  .  .  On  Sundays, 
shops  were  open  and  singing  and  guitar  playing  in  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  267 

streets,  for  which  in  New  York  or  Philadelphia  one 
would  be  put  in  prison."   .   .   . 

He  goes  to  the  coffee-houses  to  hear  Spanish  songs 
with  guitar  accompaniment,  and  to  the  theatre  regularly, 
both  to  the  French  and  American.  At  the  former, 
among  other  dramatic  performances,  he  saw  "  Marie 
Stuart"  played  in  masterly  style  to  an  enthusiastic 
audience,  in  which  the  Columbian  commander  in  port 
was  a  conspicuous  figure,  with  his  brilliant  uniform 
and  hat  with  long  white  feather ;  he  also  met  an  old 
friend,  the  Comte  de  Vidua,  there.  At  the  American 
theatre  he  saw  "  Der  Freischiitz,"  the  "  Kentuckians  " 
cracking  nuts  during  the  performance.  .  .  .  On 
Mardi-Gras  all  the  ball-rooms  of  the  city  were  opened. 
There  was  a  grand  masked  ball  at  the  Theatre  d'Or- 
leans.  .  .  .  Many  of  the  ladies  were  in  mask,  but 
curiosity  soon  led  his  Highness  elsewhere.  On  the 
22d  of  February  there  was  a  splendid  ball  again  at 
the  Theatre  d'Orleans  .  .  .  and  there  is  mention  of  a 
children's  ball  for  the  benefit  of  the  dancing  master, 
in  which  the  little  ones  gave  proof  of  their  inherited 
beauty  and  grace.  The  taste  and  splendour  in  the 
mansion  of  the  Baron  de  Marigny  are  especially  com- 
mented upon,  and  the  coffee-set  sent  by  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  the  cups  ornamented  with  portraits  of  the 
royal  family,  the  larger  pieces  with  views  of  the  Palais 
Royal,  and  castle  and  park  at  Neuilly.  It  was  with 
the  Marigny  ladies  that  the  Duke  went  to  see  the 
"  Cosmorama,"  and  returning  from  accompanying  them 
home,  saw  the  prettiest  picture  he  has  penned  in  his 
book:  "It  was  eight  o'clock  as  we  descended  the  levee, 
the  evening  was  clear,  with  starlight,  the  bustle  in  the 
harbour  had  ceased,  one  only  remarked  on  board  of  some 


268  NEW  ORLEANS. 

ships  the  sailors  collected  on  deck  under  an  illumi- 
nated awning  where  the  captain  held  evening  service. 
Precisely  at  eight  o'clock  the  retreat  gun  fired  at  the 
city  hall  .  .  .  immediately  afterwards  the  two  Colum- 
bian brigs  fired;  their  drums  and  bugles  sounded  re- 
treat, while  those  in  the  barracks  did  the  same.  All 
this,  added  to  the  lighted  ships  and  the  solitary  gleams 
from  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  made  an  impression 
upon  me  which  I  cannot  describe." 

After  a  stay  of  nine  weeks  he  left  New  Orleans, 
"•with  the  most  grateful  feelings  towards  the  inhabi- 
tants, who  had  received  me  in  a  friendly  and  affectionate 
manner,  and  had  made  this  winter  so  extremely  agree- 
able to  me.  .  .  .  The  Creoles  are,  upon  the  whole,  a 
warm-hearted  generation ;  the  people  with  whom  I  was 
least  pleased  here  were  the  Americans,  who  are  mostly 
brought  here  by  the  desire  of  accumulating  wealth." 

In  1824,  the  illustrious  Lafayette  paid  his  historical 
visit  to  the  city,  and  was  accorded  a  reception  and 
triumphal  arch,  which  almost  vies  in  memory  with  the 
glorious  triumph  of  Jackson. 

It  was  a  hare  and  tortoise  race  between  the  Ameri- 
cans and  the  Creoles,  and  in  the  United  States  it  is 
always  the  hare  that  wins.  Before  the  Creoles  were 
aware  of  it,  the  Faubourg  Ste.  Marie  was  not  only  a 
commercial  rival  of  the  vieux  carr£,  but  was  proving 
a  close  competitor  over  her  undisputed  birthright,  the 
expression  of  the  religious  and  social  life  of  the  place ; 
claiming  separate  churches,  cemeteries,  fine  residences, 
and  theatres.  In  1805,  as  soon  as  the  cession  granted 
them  freedom  of  worship,  the  Americans  built  a  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  church,  Christ  Church,  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  city,  the  corner  of  Canal  and  Dauphine  streets. 


NEW   ORLEANS. 


269 


Governor  Claiborne  worshipped  in  it,  and,  after  his 
death,  received  a  marble  memorial  in  its  churchyard. 
A  truly  venerable  Gothic  building  it  was,  and  so  rilled 

1 


with  memories  and  encased  in  sentiment,  that  when  its 
vestry,  after  three-quarters  of  a  century's  resistance 
to  enterprise,  finally  sold  it  and  its  churchyard,  to 


270  NEW  ORLEANS. 

remove  into  a  more  progressive  and  American  part 
of  town,  the  old  residents,  Catholics  as  well  as  Protes- 
tants, shed  tears;  and  it  is  only  the  great  American 
compeller  —  financial  necessity  —  that  can,  even  to-day, 
secure  any  popular  submission  to  the  demolition  of  the 
first  Protestant  landmark  in  the  community. 

1823  is  the  illustrious  date  that  begins  all  English 
theatrical  memories  in  the  city,  when  the  Americans 
opened  their  theatre  on  Camp  street,  between  Poydras 
and  Gravier.  The  new  enterprise  off ered  all-year-round, 
legitimate  drama,  with  a  fine  stock  company  of  English 
players,  and  such  regular  annual  luminaries  as  the  elder 
Booths,  Macready,  Forrest,  Barrett,  the  Placides,  and 
above  all,  there  was  that  incomparable  owner  and  man- 
ager, accomplished  English  scholar,  actor,  reader,  gen- 
tleman, bon  vivant,  Caldwell,  whose  suppers,  bon  mots, 
readings,  criticisms,  repartees,  are  a  regular  part  of  the 
make-up  of  any  pretender  to  dramatic  criticism  of  to- 
day. It  was  the  convivial  contact  with  such  a  stage, 
such  a  company,  such  actors,  and  such  a  Caldwell,  that 
fostered  the  pleasant  illusion  which  lasted  so  long 
among  the  gentlemen  of  New  Orleans,  that  upon  the 
drama  and  acting,  they  spoke  ex  cathedra.  And  even 
now,  in  the  "  old  families,"  the  heritage  of  obiter  dicta 
from  the  "old  Varieties"  are  given  and  taken  as  argu- 
ments of  current  exchange.  Even  the  old  slaves,  the 
most  enthusiastic  of  theatre-goers,  by  frequenting  the 
Camp  Street,  and  afterwards  the  St.  Charles  Street 
theatre,  felt  themselves  authorized  to  laugh  any  modern 
theatrical  pretensions  to  scorn,  and  the  barbers  and 
hairdressers  of  the  old  time  made  Shakespearian  criti- 
cism and  theatrical  gossip  a  regular  part  of  their  collo 
quial  accomplishment. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  271 

But,  with  all  her  enterprise,  Faubourg  Ste  Marie 
was  outvoted  by  the  city  below  Canal  street,  which 
always  elected  the  mayor  and  the  majority  of  the  coun- 
cil. The  consequence  was  that  the  revenues  of  the 
city  were  all  expended  upon  improvements  in  the  Cre- 
ole section,  and  every  effort  of  nepotism  was  made  by 
the  city  government  to  assure  its  superiority  over  its 
upstart  rival ;  besides  its  Canal  Carondelet,  a  railroad 
was  given  it  in  1825,  to  connect  it  with  the  lake  trade ; 
the  Pontchartrain  railroad,  noted  as  the  second  one 
built  in  the  United  States. 

Faubourg  Ste.  Marie  retaliated  by  constructing  its 
own  canal,  which  brought  the  lake  trade  to  the  foot  of 
Julia  street.  The  rivalry  between  the  two  sections  was 
now  inflamed  to  antagonism.  In  the  midst  of  it  the 
country  members  of  the  legislature,  jealous  of  the  pre- 
pondering  influence  of  the  city  on  its  body,  removed 
the  capital  to  Donaldsonville,  a  small  town  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi. It  was,  however,  transferred  again  to  New 
Orleans  in  1831,  when  the  property  holders  of  Faubourg 
Ste.  Marie,  after  a  most  exciting  struggle,  forced 
through  the  legislature  an  amendment  to  the  city 
charter,  dividing  the  city  into  three  municipalities, 
with  Canal  street  and  the  Esplanade  as  boundary  lines, 
and  giving  each  section  a  separate  government  —  in 
reality  making  three  separate  cities  of  it.  The  con- 
troller of  its  own  finances,  the  Faubourg  Ste.  Marie,  in 
one  dash,  left  its  Creole  rival  so  far  behind  in  the  race  as 
to  settle  the  contest  forever.  Streets  were  paved,  ware- 
houses built,  quays  constructed,  and  blocks  filled  with 
residences-  The  truck  gardens  were  shoved  into  the 
swamp.  An  unsightly  quagmire  was  filled  in  to  fur- 
nish the  site  for  a  palatial  hotel,  the  St.  Charles ;  two 


272  NEW  ORLEANS. 

other  hotels  were  built,  on  the  ground  of  the  old  cattle 
pens  on  Camp  and  Magazine  streets.  A  wretched  waste 
was  converted  into  Lafayette  Square;  the  City  Hall, 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  Odd  Fellows  Hall,  were 
grouped  with  fine  effect  around  it.  Banks,  newspapers, 
railroad  companies,  warehouses,  compresses,  multiplied; 
commercial  firms  sprang  up  like  mushrooms ;  property 
rose  by  leaps  in  value. 

The  Faubourg  Marigny  built  also  her  compresses, 
warehouses,  quays,  and  blocks  of  •  residences,  these  last 
with  more  architectural  generosity,  broader  spaces, 
longer  vistas,  ampler  gardens,  than  Faubourg  Ste. 
Marie,  with  more  sacrifices  to  the  picturesque,  and 
therefore  not  with  the  same  resultant  accumulation  of 
wealth. 

The  vieux  carre  built,  too,  her  St.  Louis  Hotel,  with 
a  great  exchange,  under  a  magnificent  rotunda.  A  jail, 
the  "  Calaboose,"  strong  as  a  Bastile,  was  erected  back 
of  the  town  near  Congo  Square.  Banks  and  business 
rows,  and  finer  and  finer  houses,  crowded  out  the  old 
Spanish  structures,  which  the  Creoles,  unlike  the  thrifty 
Americans,  filled  with  finer  furniture,  mirrors,  pictures, 
from  Europe.  The  enriched  Americans  now  buy  it 
second-hand  for  their  fine  houses;  the  Creoles  selling 
it  —  some  of  them  for  bread.  Secure  in  the  prolific 
wealth  of  their  plantations  and  city  rents,  the  enter- 
prise of  the  Creoles,  in  inverse  progression  from  the 
Americans,  seemed  applied  rather  to  the  dispensing 
than  to  the  acquiring  of  wealth. 

Travellers  came  to  visit  the  1830  "  Chicago "  and 
wrote  all  kinds  of  flattering  things  of  it.  The  English 
traveller,  Buckingham,  who  was  in  the  city  in  1839, 
says  that  below  Canal  street  everything  reminded  him 


NEW  ORLEANS.  273 

of  Paris:  the  lamps  hanging  from  ropes  across  the 
streets,  the  women  in  gay  aprons  and  caps,  the  language, 
the  shops,  particularly  the  millinery  establishment  on 
Royal  and  Toulouse  streets,  "  La  Belle  Creole,"  with 
its  beautiful  oil-painted  sign,  representing  a  lady  in 
costume  de  bal  and  another  in  costume  de  promenade  ;  the 
winning  persuasiveness  of  the  shop-keepers;  the  style  of 
living;  the  love  of  military  display,  and  the  amusements, 
operas,  concerts,  ballets,  balls  and  masquerades,  without 
intermission,  from  November  to  Ma}r  ;  persons  coming 
from  theatres  at  midnight,  remaining  at  masquerades 
until  daylight.  The  ball-rooms  of  the  St.  Louis  hotel 
were,  he  said,  unequalled  in  the  United  States  for  size 
and  beauty.  The  banks  were  "noble  buildings."  The 
St.  Charles  hotel  he  pronounced  not  only  the  hand- 
somest in  the  United  States,  but  in  the  world,  even  the 
handsomest  of  London  and  Paris  falling  short  of  it. 
In  his  enumeration  he  specially  pauses  at  the  wonder  of 
the  city,  the  magnificent  chandelier  of  the  newly  built 
St.  Charles  theatre,  made  especially  in  London,  thirty- 
six  feet  in  diameter,  with  hundreds  of  gas  jets  and 
thousands  of  cut-glass  drops.  Our  traveller  found  the 
Creoles  "frank,  warm-hearted  and  impassioned,  with 
manners  more  interesting  than  the  Americans  .  .  . 
the  roundness  and  beauty  of  shape  in  the  women  also 
contrasting  with  the  straightness  and  angularity  of 
American  figures  ;  in  complexion  they  are  like  Italian 
women,  and  they  combine  the  attractiveness  of  the 
women  of  Cadiz  and  Naples  and  Marseilles  ;  with  a  self- 
possession,  ease,  and  elegance  which  the  Americans 
seldom  possess,  although  the  latter,  by  contact  with 
the  Creole  population,  have  worn  off  much  of  the  stiff- 
ness which  characterizes  the  New  England  States,  while 


274  NEW  ORLEANS. 

a  long  residence  in  the  sunny  South  has  both  moulded 
their  forms  into  more  elegance  and  gracefulness  and 
expanded  their  ideas  and  feelings  into  greater  liberal- 
ity. They  have  lost  that  mixture  of  keenness  in 
driving  a  bargain,  and  parsimoniousness  in  the  expen- 
diture of  its  fruits,  as  well  as  that  excessive  caution 
in  opening  themselves  to  strangers,  lest  they  should 
commit  themselves,  which  is  so  characteristic  of  the 
people  of  the  North.  At  the  same  time,  they  retain 
in  the  fullest  vigour  the  philanthropic  spirit  which  is 
also  a  characteristic  of  the  North "...  apropos  of 
which  may  be  added  the  Englishman's  surprise  at  find- 
ing in  New  Orleans  so  many  charitable  institutions, 
after  so  many  accounts  and  descriptions  of  the  profli- 
gacy there. 

At  the  St.  Louis  hotel  that  winter,  Mr.  Buckingham 
met  a  piece  of  social  rococo,  in  the  shape  of  a  visitor ; 
the  handsome  and  distinguished-looking  Mademoiselle 
America  Vespucci,  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  great 
navigator,  and  an  advanced  woman  even  for  this  day ; 
a  member  not  only  of  secret  political  societies,  but  an 
actual  combatant  in  man's  clothing  on  the  battle-field, 
where  she  had  received  a  sabre  cut  on  the  back  of  the 
head.  Her  mission  to  the  United  States  was  to  obtain 
a  grant  of  land,  in  recognition  of  her  name  and  parent- 
age. Mr.  Buckingham  says  he  had  never  witnessed  in 
any  other  except  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  "so  noble  a 
union  of  high  birth  and  mental  powers." 

In  1843  Henry  Clay  paid  his  memorable  visit  to  the 
city.  Lady  Wortley  paid  hers  in  "'49,"  and  could 
not  "  but  think  what  a  wonderful  place  this  same  New 
Orleans  will  be  in  the  future.  She  came  by  the  favour- 
ite route  then  from  the  North,  down  the  river ;  and  how 


1-^ 


NEW  ORLEANS.  277 

she  writes  of  it  !  With  an  enthusiasm  as  obsolete  now 
as  the  steamboat  that  called  it  forth  :  "  By  night  the 
scene  is  one  of  startling  interest  and  magical  splendour. 
Hundreds  of  lights  are  glancing  in  different  directions, 
from  the  villages  and  plantations  on  shore,  and  from 
the  magnificent  floating  palaces  of  steamers  that  fre- 
quently look  like  moving  mountains  of  light  and  flame, 
so  brilliantly  are  these  enormous  leviathans  illuminated 
outside  and  inside.  Indeed,  the  spectacle  presented  is 
like  a  dream  of  enchantment.  Imagine  steamer  after 
steamer  coming,  sweeping,  sounding,  thundering  on, 
blazing  with  thousands  of  lights,  casting  long  brilliant 
reflections  on  the  fast  rolling  waters  beneath.  (There 
are  often  a  number  of  them,  one  after  another,  like  so 
many  comets  in  Indian  file.)  Some  of  them  are  so 
marvellously  and  dazzlingly  lighted,  they  really  look 
like  Aladdin's  palace  on  fire  (which  it,  in  all  likelihood, 
would  be  in  America)  sent  skurrying  and  dashing  down 
the  stream,  while  perhaps  just  then  all  else  is  darkness 
around  it." 

There  were  other  scenes  described  by  visitors,  scenes 
that  read  as  strange  to  the  community  now  as  they 
appeared  then  to  travellers.  Fredericka  Bremer,  who 
came  to  the  city  in  1852,  writes  :  — 

"  T  saw  nothing  especially  repulsive  in  these  places  (slave  marts) 
excepting  the  whole  thing;  and  I  cannot  help  feeling  a  sort  of 
astonishment  that  such  scenes  are  possible  in  a  community  calling 
itself  Christian.  It  seems  to  me  sometimes  as  if  it  could  not  be 
reality,  as  if  it  were  a  dream.  The  great  slave  market  is  held  in 
several  houses  situated  in  a  particular  part  of  the  city.  One  is 
soon  aware  of  their  neighbourhood  from  the  groups  of  coloured  men 
and  women,  of  all  shades  between  black  and  light  yellow,  which 
stand  or  sit  unemployed  at  the  doors.  I  visited  some  of  these 
houses.  We  saw  at  one  of  them  the  slave  keeper  or  owner,  a  kind, 


278  NEW  ORLEANS. 

good-tempered  man  who  boasted  of  the  good  appearance  of  his 
people.  The  slaves  were  summoned  into  a  large  hall,  and  arranged 
in  two  rows.  They  were  well  fed  and  clothed,  but  I  have  heard  it 
said  by  the  people  here,  that  they  have  a  very  different  appearance 
when  they  are  brought  hither,  chained  together,  two  and  two,  in 
long  rows,  after  many  days'  fatiguing  marches.  The  slightest 
kind  word  or  joke  called  forth  a  sunny  smile,  full  of  good  humour, 
on  their  countenances,  and  revealed  a  shiny  row  of  beautiful  pearl- 
like  teeth.  .  .  .  Among  the  women,  who  were  few  in  number  in 
comparison  with  the  men  .  .  .  there  were  some  pretty,  light  mu- 
lattoes.  A  gentleman  took  one  of  the  prettiest  of  them  by  the  chin 
and  opened  her  mouth  to  see  the  state  of  her  teeth,  with  no  more 
ceremony  than  if  she*  had  been  a  hors<>.  .  .  . 

"  I  went  to  witness  a  slave  auction  —  it  was  held  at  one  of  the 
small  auction-rooms  which  are  found  in  various  parts  of  New 
Orleans.  The  principal  scene  of  slave  auctions  is  a  splendid 
rotunda,  the  magnificent  dome  of  which  is  worthy  to  resound  with 
songs  of  freedom.  ...  A  great  number  of  people  were  assembled. 
About  twenty  gentlemenlike  men  stood  in  a  half  circle  around  a 
dirty  wooden  platform,  which  for  the  moment  was  unoccupied. 
On  each  side,  by  the  wall,  stood  a  number  of  black  men  and 
women,  silent  and  serious.  The  whole  assembly  was  silent,  and 
it  seemed  to  me  as  if  a  heavy  grey  cloud  rested  upon  it.  One 
heard  through  the  open  door  the  rain  falling  heavily  in  the 
street.  .  .  .  Two  gentlemen  hastily  entered,  one  of  them,  a  tall, 
stout  man,  with  a  gay  and  good-tempered  aspect,  evidently  a  bon 
vivant,  ascended  the  auction  platform.  I  was  told  that  he  was  an 
Englishman,  and  I  can  believe  it  from  his  blooming  complexion, 
which  was  not  American.  He  came  apparently  from  a  good 
breakfast,  and  he  seemed  to  be  actively  employed  in  swallowing 
his  last  mouthful. 

"Taking  the  hammer  in  his  hand,  he  addressed  the  assembly, 
stating  briefly  that  the  slaves  were  home  slaves,  all  the  property  of 
one  master,  who  having  given  bond  for  a  friend  who  afterwards 
became  bankrupt,  was  obliged  to  meet  his  responsibilities  by 
parting  with  his  faithful  servants,  who  therefore  were  sold,  not  in 
consequence  of  any  faults  or  deficiencies.  After  this,  he  beckoned 
to  a  woman  among  the  blacks  to  come  forward,  and  he  gave  her 
his  hand  to  mount  upon  the  platform,  where  she  remained  stand- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  279 

ing  beside  him.  She  was  a  tall,  well-grown  mulatto,  with  a  hand- 
some but  sorrowful  countenance,  and  a  remarkably  modest,  noble 
demeanour.  She  bore  on  her  arm  a  young  sleeping  child,  upon 
which,  during  the  whole  auction  ceremonial,  she  kept  her  eyes 
immovably  riveted,  with  her  head  cast  down.  She  wore  a  grey 
dress  made  close  to  the  throat,  and  a  pale  yellow  handkerchief, 
checked  with  brown,  was  tied  around  her  head. 

"  The  auctioneer,  after  vaunting  the  woman's  good  qualities,  skill, 
ability,  character,  good  disposition,  order,  fidelity,  her  uncommon 
qualification  for  taking  care  of  a  house,  her  piety  and  talents  and 
the  child  at  her  breast,  which  increased  her  value,  obtained  a 
starter  of  five  hundred  dollars  for  her,  and  finally  the  hammer  fell 
at  seven  hundred.  She  was  sold  to  one  of  the  dark,  silent  figures 
before  her.  Who  he  was  whether  he  was  good  or  bad,  whether 
he  would  lead  her  into  tolerable  or  intolerable  slavery —  of  all  this 
the  bought  and  sold  woman  and  mother  knew  as  little  as  I  did, 
neither  to  what  part  of  the  world  he  would  take  her.  And  the 
father  of  her  child,  where  was  he?  ...  All  were  sold,  —  the  young 
girl  who  looked  pert  rather  than  good,  the  young  man,  a  mulatto 
with  countenance  expressive  of  gentleness  and  refinement,  who 
had  been  brought  up  by  his  master  and  was  greatly  beloved  by 
him  .  .  .  and  last  of  all,  the  elderly  woman  whose  demeanour  or 
general  appearance  showed  that  she  too  had  been  in  the  service  of 
a  good  master,  and  having  been  accustomed  to  gentle  treatment, 
had  become  gentle  and  happy  ...  all  bore  the  impression  of  hav- 
ing been  accustomed  to  an  affectionate  family  life.  .  .  .  And  now, 
what  was  to  be  their  future  fate  ?  How  bitterly,  if  they  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  wicked,  would  they  feel  the  difference  between 
then  and  now !  How  horrible  would  be  their  lot !  ...  The 
master  had  been  good ;  the  servants  good  also,  attached  and  faith- 
ful, and  yet  they  were  sold  to  whoever  would  buy  them,  sold  like 
brute  beasts." 

All  travellers,  however,  did  not  write  so  gently  of 
such  scenes  as  Fredericka  Bremer,  nor  accept  slavery  as 
philosophically  as  Buckingham  did  and  Lady  Wortley, 
who  frankly  confesses  that  she  saw  "  only  the  couleur 
de  rose  of  the  business."  Mademoiselle  America  Ves- 


280  NEW  ORLEANS. 

pucci,  for  instance,  to  quote  still  from  foreign  visitors 
of  the  same  period,  could  see  nothing  rose  coloured 
about  it. 

The  improvements  and  renovations  took  at  last  a 
disastrous  turn.  Almonaster's  cathedral  was  torn  to 
the  ground,  and  rebuilt  with  what  was  intended  to  be 
far  greater  art  and  magnificence ;  Mansard  roofs  were 
added  to  the  Cabildo  and  convent.  The  Baroness  de 
Pontalba,  who  was  in  the  city  at  the  time,  improved 
her  father's  old  pointed,  red-tiled  roofed  Spanish  build- 
ings into  the  present  French  row,  to  be  in  harmony 
with  the  mansarded  Cabildo  and  convent.  The  old 
Place  d'Armes  itself  was  improved  into  Jackson  square, 
all  vestige  of  grim-visaged  war  smoothed  from  it,  planted 
in  flowers  and  shrubs  and  (save  the  mark  !)  laid  off  in 
trim  walks  and  neat  bosquets ;  its  old  flag-staff  taken 
down  to  give  place  to  the  equestrian  statue  of  the  hero 
of  Chalmette. 

In  1852  the  three  municipalities  came  together  again 
into  one  city;  that  is,  the  other  two  came  into  the 
Faubourg  Ste.  Marie,  for  it  now  was  New  Orleans,  the 
American  had  conquered  the  Creole,  and  the  Cabildo 
yielded  precedence  to  the  City  Hall. 

The  next  year  came  the  great  epidemic  of  cholera 
and  yellow  fever.  Although  no  mention  has  been 
made  of  it ;  during  and  accompanying  all  these  years, 
when  prosperity  flushed  the  city,  and  wealth  piled  in 
banks,  or  ran  in  pleasure  .  .  .  there  was  at  the  rout  and 
feast  not  any  conventional,  suggestive  memento  mori, 
there  was  Death  itself,  Death,  as  palpable,  visible,  audi- 
ble, as  a  stolid  official  executioner ;  and  not  as  a  fleet 
ing  presence  but  functioning  steadily,  regularly  for 
days,  weeks,  months,  year  after  year.  In  the  colonial 


NEW   ORLEANS. 


281 


days,  vessels  stopping  at 
Havana  and  St.  Domingo 
would  invariably  bring  in 
the  epidemic  raging  there, 
and  the  little  population 
would  pay  its  tribute  of 
lives,  —  always  the  freshest 
and  healthiest  of  its  new 
comers.  The  survivors  of 
the  fever,  however,  were 
immunized,  or  acclimated, 
not  only  in  themselves,  but 
for  succeeding  generations, 
and  the  yellow  fever,  al- 
though a  regular  visitant, 
had,  when  the  immigration 
was  scant,  rather  a  starved 
run  in  the  city.  The  West 
Indian,  inured  to  his  own 
climate,  was.  of  course  ac- 
climated to  New  Orleans. 
With  the  great  inflow  of 
American,  Irish,  and  Ger- 
man immigrants  came  the 
great  epidemics  of  the  twen- 
ties, increasing  in  raging 
violence  through  '27,  '28, 
'29,  to  the  fatal  '32.  In 
September  of  that 
year,  yellow 
fever,  as  L  f 

usual,  broke          *«t 
out,  but  in     < 


282 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


October  it  was  reenforced  by  Asiatic  cholera.  Five 
thousand  died  during  the  ten  days  following,  and  these 
are  only  the  recorded  deaths.  In  twelve  days  a  sixth 
of  the  population  was  buried.  Egress  from  the  city 
was  impossible ;  families  stayed  at  home  within  locked 
doors,  and  awaited  the  death  signal.  From  the  tales 
that  survive  of  the  visitation  it  would  seem  that  human 


experience  must  have  reached  its  limits  of  suffering 
by  bereavement  —  and  such  a  form  of  bereavement ! 
There  are  recollections  of  that  time  —  buried  in  the 
graveyard  —  to  exhume  which  is  to  revive  the  horrors 
of  the  plague  of  bygone  centuries. 

A  young  Protestant  minister,  Dr.  Clapp,  who  came 
to  the  city  in  1822,  and  by  a  miracle  survived  all  the 
epidemics,  afterwards  published  the  segment  of  his  ex- 
perience. In  '32  he  was  kept  performing  funeral  services 
all  day  long;  sometimes  he  did  not  leave  the  cemetery 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


283 


until  nine  o'clock  at  night,  when  the  interments  were 
made  by  candle  light.  Attending  a  funeral  one  morn- 
ing at  six  o'clock,  he  found  at  the  cemetery  more  than 
a  hundred  bodies  without  coffins,  brought  during  the 
night  and  piled  up  like  cord  wood.  Trenches  were  dug, 
into  which  they  were  thrown  indiscriminately.  The 
chain  gang  were  pressed  into  service  as  gravediggers 


and  undertakers.  A  hospital  being  found  deserted, 
physicians,  nurses,  attendants  all  dead  or  run  away,  and 
the  wards  filled  with  corpses, —  the  mayor  had  the 
building  and  contents  burned.  Persons  of  fortune  died 
unattended  in  their  beds,  and  remained  for  days  with- 
out burial.  In  every  house  there  were  sick,  dying,  and 
dead  in  the  same  room,  often  in  the  same  bed.  All 


284  NEW  ORLEANS. 

places  of  business  were  closed ;  drays,  carts,  carriages, 
hand-carts,  and  wheelbarrows  were  kept  busy  carrying 
loads  of  the  dead  through  the  streets,  dumping  them  at 
cemetery  gates.  Before  the  mortuary  chapel  on  Rain- 
part  street  there  was  ever  a  file  of  them,  waiting  for  a 
sprinkle  of  holy  water  and  the  sign  of  the  cross,  the 
only  burial  service  possible.  Protestant  ministers, 
priests,  Sisters  of  Charity,  died  standing  at  their  posts. 
Multitudes  who  began  the  day  in  perfect  health  were 
corpses  before  night ;  carpenters  died  on  their  benches  ; 
a  man  ordered  a  coffin  for  a  friend  and  died  before  it 
was  finished.  A  bride  died  the  night  of  her  marriage, 
and  was  buried  in  her  veil  and  dress  cast  off  a  few 
hours  before.  Three  brothers  died  on  the  same  day 
in  a  few  hours  of  one  another.  A  family  of  nine 
supped  together  in  perfect  health;  by  the  end  of  the 
next  twenty-four  hours  eight  had  died.  A  boarding- 
house  of  thirteen  inmates  was  absolutely  emptied,  no 
one  left.  Corpses  were  found  all  along  the  streets, 
particularly  in  the  early  morning. 

A  thick,  dark  atmosphere  hung  over  the  city,  neither 
sun,  moon,  nor  stars  being  visible.  A  hunter  on  Bayou 
St.  John  related  that  he  killed  no  game ;  not  a  bird 
was  to  be  seen  in  the  sky.  Tar  and  pitch  were  kept 
burning  at  every  corner,  the  flames  casting  a  lurid 
glare  over  the  horrors  of  night ;  during  the  day  cannon 
were  fired,  like  minute-guns  along  the  streets,  frighten- 
ing the  dying  into  quicker  death;  great  conflagrations 
were  of  daily  occurrence,  adding  to  the  general  dread. 
The  frightened  negroes  thought  the  day  of  judgment 
had  come;  the  enlightened  thought  it  was  hell.  People 
stopped  sending  to  market  and  cooking:  they  were 
afraid  to  eat  anything  substantial. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  285 

The  pious  redoubled  their  fervour ;  the  pleasure 
lovers  their  desperate  gayety,  supping  with  dare-devil 
luxury,  betting  on  one  another's  chances  of  death  and 
the  trenches,  of  which  ghastly  tales  of  burial  alive  were 
told.  One,  the  wildest  of  a  gay  supper  party,  extracted 
a  promise  from  his  friends  that  he  at  least  should  not  be 
buried  alive.  He  did  not  appear  the  next  evening,  and 
his  friends,  organizing  a  searching  party  for  him,  traced 
him  to  a  cholera  trench;  had  it  opened;  he  was  found 
dressed  as  he  had  left  the  supper,  just  under  the  earth, 
his  handsome  face  stiff  in  its  dead  convulsion  of  horror, 
his  hands  outstretched  in  the  effort  of  crawling  and 
struggling  through  the  putrid  dead  towards  life  above. 
Those  who  did  not  believe  died  with  their  ruling  pas- 
sion on  their  lips;  a  passionate  novel  reader  towards  the 
end  sent  a  friend  out  to  buy  the  last  novel  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott's,  which  had  been  daily  expected.  It  was  placed 
in  his  hands  .  .  .  his  cold  fingers  could  turn  the  leaves, 
but  his  eyes  were  growing  dim.  "  I  am  blind,"  he 
gasped,  "  I  cannot  see.  I  must  be  dying,  and  leaving 
this  new  production  of  immortal  genius  unread." 
Another  one  died  uttering  the  name  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte.  The  same  epidemics  returned  the  follow- 
ing summer,  killing  in  the  twelve  months  ten  thousand 
out  of  a  population  of  fifty-five  thousand.  In  1847, 
1848,  and  1849,  eight  per  cent  of  the  people  died. 

In  the  summer  of  1853  the  climax  of  death  was 
reached.  Over  five  thousand  raw  emigrants,  Irish, 
English,  and  German,  had  landed  during  the  year,  and 
the  city  was  in  a  state  of  upheaval  —  canals  being 
widened  and  deepened,  ditches  dug,  gas  and  water 
mains  extended,  new  road  beds  constructed.  Street 
cleaning  being  yet  in  an  experimental  condition,  the 


286 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


levees,  back  streets,  slums,  were  foul  and  swarming 
with  demoralized,  filthy  humanity.  In  May  the  yellow 
fever  broke  out  on  an  English  ship  freshly  loaded  with 
Irish  emigrants,  and  spread  through  the  shipping  in 
port;  only  twenty -five  deaths  were  reported  for  the 
closing  week  of  June,  the  disease  prowling  still  in 


u 


1  "^-..^.         -' 


obscure  corners.  By  the  middle  of  July  the  week's 
deaths  were  two  hundred  and  four.  Thousands  left 
the  city  in  the  panic  that  ensued,  blocking  every  route 
and  mode  of  travelling.  The  weather  changed  to  daily 
rains  and  hot  suns.  The  floors  of  the  Charity  Hospital 
were  covered  with  pauper  sick.  For  a  week,  one  died 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


287 


every  half  hour.  Every  day  the  death  rate  rolled  up 
higher,  and  on  the  22d  of  August,  from  midnight  to 
midnight,  the  city  yielded  a  fresh  victim  every  five 
minutes.  The  horrors  of  1833  were  repeated.  Out 
of  a  sixty  thousand  population,  forty  thousand  were 
attacked,  eleven  thousand  died.  In  1854  and  1855  the 
fever  returned  with  cholera,  with  a  death  rate  of 
seventy-two  and  seventy-three  per  thousand.  In  1853 
it  was  one  hundred  and  eleven  per  thousand.  The 


young  Protestant  minister,  now  an  old  one  in  the  com- 
munity, writes,  in  answer  to  certain  charges,  and 
being  from  the  North  his  statement  is  usually  accepted 
as  impartial :  "  In  these  epidemics,  instead  of  the  usual 
accompaniments  of  lawlessness  and  depravity,  an  ex- 
traordinary degree  of  benevolence  prevailed,  persons  in 
every  rank  in  life  sacrificing  time  and  money  to  care 
for  the  sick." 

But  despite  all  this  the  forward  march  of  the  city 


288  NEW  ORLEANS. 

was  not  interrupted  ;  even  the  memory  and  grief  «of  it 
were  passing  shadows.  The  great  financial  crises  of  the 
decade  swept  over  the  place ;  banks  and  fortunes  were 
demolished,  but  only  for  a  moment ;  the  very  stones  of 
the  street  seemed  to  cry  out  wealth  and  prosperity,  and 
higher  and  higher  figures  end  the  statistical  columns, 

—  more  emigrants,  more  imports,  more  exports,  more 
trade,  more  cotton,  sugar,  plantations,  slaves ;  and  to 
off-set,  the  more  death,  the  more  life,  the  city's  gayety, 
like  the  city's  gold,  mounting  in.  the  flood  tide  over  it 
To  look  back  merely  upon  the  printed  account  of   it, 

—  one  can  only  repeat  that  it  was  the  delirious  reality 
of  Law's  delirious  idea;   the   fates  and  furies  of  old 
Paris's  rue   Quincampoix,  by  a  touch  of   the   golden 
wand,  turning  into  muses  and  graces  and  pleasure  pur- 
veyors for  the  little  Paris  in  the  New  World.     It  was 
just  such  an  orgie  on  a  minute  scale  as  old  Paris  had 
known  under  the    Regency,   and    the    nouveaux   riches 
here  as  there  came  from  the  aristocracy,  and  well  pre- 
pared by  ancestral    seasoning,    for   the    enjoyment   of 
wealth.      There  were  more  and  more  theatres,  operas, 
balls,   hotels,    clubs,    cards   and   horse-racing,  cocking 
mains,  even  bull-fights.   .    .   . 

If  New  Orleans  were  the  woman  she  is  figured  to  be, 
she  would  interrupt  here  with  her  uncontrollable  eager- 
ness :  "  Ah,  yes  !  Tell  about  my  races,  my  famous  races, 
and  my  track,  my  beautiful  Metairie  track  !  And  my 
spring  meetings.  .  .  .  My  great  last  Saturdays  —  my 
four-mile  race  day — and  the  famous,  yes,  the  famous  Lex- 
ington-Lecompte  matches.  Describe  that  !  Do  describe 
that!  "  But  what  woman,  even  New  Orleans  herself, 
could  describe  that  ?  Who  would  want  to  read  it  when 
one  can  hear  it  told  ?  And  when  the  memory  of  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  289 

race  takes  in,  as  it  always  does  in  New  Orleans  (for  the 
turf  was  then  a  pastime  for  gentlemen  and  ladies,  not 
a  business  for  professionals),  the  crowds  in  the  hotels, 
the  noted  men  and  women  from  all  over  the  South  who 
had  come  to  the  match,  the  whirl  of  carriages,  and 
cabs,  and  vehicles  of  all  kinds  along  the  shell  road,  a 
kind  of  race  track  itself,  the  grand  stand,  exclusive  as 
a  private  ball-room,  glittering  with  ladies  in  toilets 
from  the  ateliers  of  the  great  modistes,  Olympe  and 
Sophie,  and  the  ladies  glittering  with  all  those  charms 
of  beauty  and  conversation,  which,  in  default  of  higher 
education,  Heaven  used  then  to  supply  women  with  .  .  . 
and  the  men,  from  all  over  the  South  glittering  too 
in  all  the  pride,  arrogance,  and  self-sufficiency  which 
their  enemies,  the  moralists,  supplied  them  with ;  .  .  . 
the  field  packed  ...  as  the  field  must  be  always 
packed  where  the  grand  stand  is  not  part  of  the  gate 
receipts ;  and  all  round  about,  trees,  fences,  hedges, 
tops  of  carriages,  crowded  with  every  male  being  that 
could  walk,  ride,  or  drive  from  the  city.  "  By  the  Lord 
Harry  !  Not  a  nigger  left  to  wait  around  a  table ; " 
the  track  —  that  superb  track  of  old  Metairie  —  the 
jockeys  petted  and  spoiled  like  ballet-girls  —  and  the 
horses!  A  volume  would  not  hold  it  all  before  we  even 
get  to  Lexington  and  Lecompte,  and  after  that  a  library 
would  be  needed  to  contain  it. 

One  must  hear,  not  read,  about  how  "the  sun  was 
dropping  behind  the  trees,  and  the  sky  was  all  a  glory, 
when  Lecompte  passed  the  grand  stand  on  his  first 
heat  in  7.26  !  And  the  glory  of  the  sky  was  simply 
nothing,  sir  !  when  Lecompte  won  the  race,  beating  the 
best  heats  on  record  !  "  And  the  next  year,  when  Lex- 
ington ran  against  the  record,  and  beat  it!  That,  as 


290  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  old  gentlemen  now  —  the  young  bloods  of  that  day 
—  say,  was  Aorse-racing. 

And  the  dinners  afterwards,  at  Moreau's,  Victor's, 
Miguel's,  and  the  famous  lake  restaurants,  with  their 
rival  chefs  and  rival  cellars !  And  after  that  again 
the  grand  salons  of  the  old  St.  Louis  and  St.  Charles, 
filled  with  everybody ;  and  all  enjoying  themselves,  as 
the  phrase  well  puts  it.  That  was  what  horse-racing 
meant  then.  Who  thought  of  epidemics  or  financial 
panics  ?  Alas  !  the  old  Metairie  is  expiating  its  sins 
now  as  a  cemetery,  and  its  patrons,  its  beaux  and  its 
belles  and  its  horses,  —  they  are  expiating  their  sins 
too,  in  cemeterial  ways. 

Within  sight  of  the  cemetery,  a  part  of  the  same 
ridge  of  land,  sinking  into  the  same  stretch  of  swamp, 
lies  another  relic  of  past  time  and  civilization  —  the 
old  duelling  ground,  now  a  park,  a  cemetery,  too,  in  its 
way,  although  but  one  tomb  stands  there,  that  of  its 
last  owner,  who,  infatuated  with  love  for  his  beautiful 
oaks,  requested  to  be  buried  under  the  shadow  of  their 
branches.  In  the  childish  days  of  the  city,  when  dis- 
putes were  scarce,  we  hear  of  the  officers  drawing  their 
swords  and  fighting  for  pastime  in  the  moonlight  on 
the  levee ;  for  other  humours  there  were  always  quiet 
and  retirement  to  be  found  anywhere  outside  of  the  city 
walls.  When  the  emigres  from  France  and  the  islands 
arrived  with  their  different  times  and  different  man- 
ners, and  when  the  disbanded  soldiers  from  Bonaparte's 
armies  dropped  into  the  population,  there  was  as  great 
a  renaissance  in  duelling,  as  in  the  other  condiments  of 
life,  so  to  speak.  Fencing  masters  flourished,  and 
"  salles  d'escrime  "  were  the  places  of  fashionable  cult- 
ure for  young  men.  In  Paris,  gentlemen  would  step 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


293 


out  and  fight  d  T  impromptu  "  sous  le  fanal  de  la  come- 
die."  Young  blades,  returning  from  Paris,  sharpened 
by  encounters  over  there  with  blades  noted  in  the  whole 
European  world,  must  therefore  fight  also  d  Timpromptu 
"  sous  le  fanal  de  I'ope'ra,"  otherwise  the  great  lantern 
of  the  Orleans  theatre,  whose  circle  of  light  on  a  broad, 
smooth  pavement  furnished  as  pretty  conditions  for  the 
settlement  of  a  question  about  a  soprano's  voice  or  a 
ballet  dancer's  steps  as  could  be  desired  anywhere.  The 
weather  not  permitting  this,  all  adjourned  to  Ponton's, 


the  fashionable  fencing  room,  just  below  the  theatre. 
"When  we  fought  at  Ponton's."  "Oh,  he  gave  me  a 
beautiful  thrust  at  Ponton's."  .  .  .  This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  many  a  good  friendship,  and  of  many  a  good 
story  of  the  fathers,  uncles,  cousins,  and  elder  brothers 
of  the  young  gentlemen  at  the  Orleans  college. 

The  stories  of  another  generation  take  in  the  Oaks. 
What  a  trooping  of  ghosts  under  the  old  trees,  if  all 


294  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  votaries  of  honour  who  had  fought  or  assisted  others 
to  fight  there  could  revisit  the  place  in  spirit!  What  a 
throng  would  mine  host  of  the  restaurant  opposite  have 
to  welcome,  if  all  who  quaffed  a  glass,  in  a  happy  reprieve 
from  death  or  wounds,  at  that  bar  could  return  again! 
And  he  was  the  man  of  all  in  the  city,  it  was  said,  who 
could,  if  he  would,  tell  as  much  as  the  old  oaks.  Every- 
body fought  with  everybody  then ;  the  score  of  duels 
was  kept  like  the  score  of  marriage  offers  of  a  belle. 
Individuals  counted  up  eighteen,  thirty,  fifty  of  them. 
Mandeville  Marigny  fought  with  his  brother-in-law. 
A  father  and  a  son  fought  duels  the  same  day.  On  one 
Sunday  in  1839  ten  duels  were  fought.  "  Killed  on  the 
field  of  honour  !  "  The  legend  is  a  common  enough 
one  in  the  old  cemeteries. 

Besides  the  great  national  differences  between  the 
Americans  and  Creoles,  which  were  settled  in  a  great 
national  way,  with  shot-guns  and  rifles,  there  was 
every  other  imaginable  difference  settled  under  those 
trees, — politics,  love,  ball-room  etiquette,  legal  points, 
even  scientific  questions.  A  learned  scientist,  an  hy- 
draulic engineer,  permitting  himself  to  say  (in  justice 
to  him,  it  was  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  some 
personal  theory)  that  the  Mississippi  was  a  mere  rill  in 
comparison  to  rivers  in  Europe,  a  Creole  answered  him  : 
"  Sir,  I  will  never  allow  the  Mississippi  to  be  disparaged 
in  my  presence  by  an  arrogant  pretender  to  knowl- 
edge." A  challenge  followed,  and  the  mouth  of  the 
defamer  was  cut  across  from  one  cheek  to  the  other. 
In  a  ball-room  a  gentleman  petitioned  a  belle:  "  Honour 
me  with  half  this  dance?"  "Ask  monsieur,"  she  an- 
swered, "it  belongs  to  him."  "Never,"  spoke  her 
cavalier,  bearing  her  off  in  the  waltz,  and  just  catch- 


NEW  OELEANS.  295 

ing  the  softly  spoken,  "Ah,  vous  etes  mal  eleve." 
Not  a  word  more  was  said.  The  next  morning  the 
critic  received  a  challenge  and  in  the  afternoon  a  neat 
thrust.  Almost  every  day  for  years  the  Gascon  cow- 
herds in  the  neighbourhood  would  see  pilgrims  on  foot 
or  in  carriages  wending  their  way  to  the  Oaks;  and 
the  inquisitive  would  peep,  and  in  the  cool  green  light 
under  the  trees,  witness  the  reparation  of  honour  as 
required  by  the  code ;  a  flashing,  pretty  sight  from  a 
distance,  when  the  combatants  were  lithe  and  young 
and  the  colichemardes  worthy  of  their  art. 

There  is  an  episode  (it  may  or  may  not  be  true)  when 
the  looker-on  was  not  a  cowherd;  but  the  seconds,  the 
surgeons,  the  one  principal  standing,  might  well  start, 
as  they  did,  in  surprise  :  a  -woman,  young,  beautiful,  and 
courageous  as  any  of  them.  She  had  waited  until  one 
fell  and  did  not  rise,  and  then  rushed  forward. 

She  was  still  in  her  opera  cloak,  with  her  white  silk 
gown  trailing  in  the  grass,  her  satin  slippers  wet  with 
dew,  her  arms  and  neck  bare.  In  truth,  she  had  not 
thought  to  change  her  dress.  There  had  been  the 
opera,  and  then  a  long  supper,  filled  with  gayety;  he 
(the  fallen  duellist)  as  reckless,  daring,  and  devoted,  as 
usual,  proffering  his  love  with  every- eye  glance,  and  she, 
refusing  it  as  coquettishly  as  she  had  done  for  a  year 
past,  for  almost  the  best  part  of  love  to  a  great  belle  is 
having  it  constantly  offered,  that  it  may  be  refused. 
The  coachman  (coachmen  hear  everything  that  a  car- 
riage is  needed  for)  held  her  back  as  she  was  entering 
the  house  with  her  party,  to  whisper  what  he  had 
heard.  She  gave  a  whispered  order  in  return.  And 
the  supper,  as  has  been  said,  was  gay,  gay  until  day- 
light. Tie  was  more  himself,  she  more  herself,  than 


296  NEW  ORLEANS. 

ever,  and  the  guests  were  more  interested  than  ever  in 
the  duel  between  them;  he  ever  thrusting,  she  parrying. 

He  had  left  with  the  others.  She  waited  as  she  was 
until  the  house  was  quiet  in  sleep,  and  then  slipping 
out  to  her  carriage  in  the  grey  dawn,  drove  to  the 
Oaks,  and  chose  her  position,  and  waited  alone  under 
the  trees;  her  carriage,  of  course,  driving  off  to  come 
up  after  the  other  carriages. 

She  was  without  doubt  a  great  beauty,  a  type,  an 
absolute  type  (one  may  well  say  it,  it  was  a  common- 
place in  the  city),  —  like  a  sunrise  or  sunset,  or  the 
moonlight.  And  the  men  on  the  field  knew  her  well; 
but  they  declared  that  never  had  she  appeared  so 
beautiful  as  when,  throwing  her  opera  cloak  back,  her 
white  gown  trailing,  her  satin  slippers  wet  with  dew, 
her  hair  falling  from  its  stately  coiffure  over  her  neck, 
she  rushed  forward  like  a  Valkyrie  and  picked  up  the 
form  of  her  cavalier  ;  his  blood  dropping  over  her  hands, 
cloak,  and  gown.  She  could  have  borne  him  off  alone, 
she  was  strong  enough,  and  quite  as  tall  as  he.  She 
did  bear  him  off  in  her  carriage  when  the  surgeons  had 
finished,  they  telling  her  pretty  plainly  that  he,  her 
cavalier,  was  finished  too.  And  she  drove  with  him  to 
his  house,  and  sent  the  coachman  for  her  confessor,  and 
.  .  .  married  her  cavalier  as  soon  as  he  was  conscious  .  .  . 
and  men  were  ready  to  maintain  on  the  field  of  honour, 
and  elsewhere,  that  under  no  other  circumstances  would 
she  ever  have  married  him,  which  is  a  curious  fact, 
about  women  and  about  duels. 

There  were  other  duels  under  the  oaks,  which  men 
pause  in  their  reminiscences  of  the  past  to  describe,  but 
which  women  care  not  to  tell  nor  to  hear  about.  These 
were  the  duels  with  broadswords;  particularly  that 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


297 


noted  series  during  the  spring  of  1840,  when  the  maitres 
d'armes  themselves  were  the  opponents  ;  Creole,  French- 
man, Italian,  German,  and  Spaniard,  fighting  not  for 
their  personal  honour,  but  to  prove  their  art.  There 
were  also  duels  on  horseback  with  broadswords.  The" 
historic  one  of  this  kind  was  fought  on  the  "  Plaine 
Raquette,"  in  the  Faubourg  Marigny,  between  a  young 
Creole  and  a  French  cavalry  officer.  Our  chronicler 
gives  the  account  of  an  eye  witness:  "  It  was  a  hand- 
some sight.  The  adversaries,  stripped  to  the  waist,  were 
mounted  on  spirited  horses.  They  rode  up,  nerved  for 
the  combat ;  the  Frenchman,  heavy,  somewhat  ungainly, 
but  with  muscles  like  whip-cords,  and  a  broad,  hairy 
chest,  which  gave  every  evidence  of  strength  and  en- 
durance ;  the  Creole,  lighter  in  weight,  admirably  pro- 
portioned, counterbalanced  with  youthful  suppleness 
his  adversary's  rigid  strength.  A  clashing  of  steel, 
and"  —omitting  the  details  —  "the  Creole,  by  a  rapid 
half-circle,  and  by  a  coup  de  pointe  d  droite  plunged 
his  blade  through  the  body  of  the  French  officer." 


CHAPTER   XIII, 

n^HE  children  who,  in  1804,  looked  from  the  balconies 
-*-  around  the  Place  d'Armes  to  see  the  American  flag 
raised  in  it,  vaguely  hearing  their  grandparents  behind 
them  tell  of  the  different  flags  they  had  seen  raised  to 
that  staff,  were  not  grandparents  themselves  much  be- 
fore they  saw  another  flag  officially  raised  to  proclaim 
another  domination  over  the  city.  From  grandparent 
to  grandparent,  three  memories  contained  the  whole 
history  of  the  place  :  the  incredible,  for  that  is  what  his- 
tory stores  memory  with,  and  so  the  grandmother  of 
to-day  passes  on  to  the  grandmother  of  the  future  tales 
of  as  open-eyed  wonderment  as  she  herself  listened  to 
at  her  grandmother's  knee. 

To  give  them  as  they  are  thus  being  transmuted  in 
their  homely  human  crudity  to  tradition, — New  Orleans 
abandoned  herself,  heart  and  soul,  to  the  cause  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  The  reasonableness  of  a  man's 
self-sacrifice  to  a  cause,  or  a  woman's  to  a  love,  may  be 
questioned,  but  not  the  sublimity,  surely  not.  While 
the  city,  as  blind  in  her  passion  as  when  she  defied 
Spain,  was  giving  herself  up  more  and  more  to  her  new 
devotion,  pouring  out,  as  if  from  inexhaustible  sources, 

298 


NEW  ORLEANS.  299 

her  men  and  her  money,  forgetting  Jefferson's  dictum 
about  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  two  expeditions 
were  fitted  out  against  her  by  the  United  States,  one  to 
come  down  the  river,  one  to  ascend  from  the  Gulf. 
The  latter  was  successful.  On  the  morning  of  the  25th 
of  April,  1862,  seventeen  gunboats  and  a  flotilla  of 
smaller  vessels  rode  at  anchor  in  the  river  before  her, 
and  she  lay  as  helpless  under  their  guns  as  she  had 
lain  under  the  guns  of  O'Reilly.  To  the  populace  it 
was  the  incredible  that  had  happened,  just  as  in  the 
time  of  O'Reilly. 

The  rain  was  pouring,  as  at  the  advent  of  the 
Spanish  avenger,  and,  as  then,  the  levee  was  lined  with 
a  despairing  crowd.  Some  of  the  ships  bore  evidences 
of  fighting,  that  was  the  only  alleviation  to  the  popu- 
lar feeling.  There  had  been  some  fighting  done. 
Courage  was  in  fact  the  only  thing  that  seemed  ready 
in  the  emergency,  everything  else  was  incomplete,  un- 
prepared, disorganized,  through  shameful,  disgraceful, — 
the  people  even  whispered,  —  traitorous,  neglect  and 
carelessness.  What,  they  growled,  were  seven  hundred 
men  apiece  in  two  badly  equipped  fortifications  ?  a 
straggling  battery  or  two?  an  improvised,  patched-up 
flotilla  of  gunboats,  manned  by  ignorant,  undisciplined 
crews  ?  rafts  ?  iron  chains,  against  the  superb  strength 
and  equipment  before  them  ?'  And  these  were  only 
half  ;  as  many  remained  behind  to  bring  the  forts  to 
terms.  What  availed  against  such  a  force  the  six 
thousand  men  given  by  the  Confederacy  to  protect  the 
city  ?  And  even  now  they  were  evacuating  the  city 
with  their  general !  The  curses  were  not  muttered 
when  the  crowd  011  the  levee  spoke  of  this  army  and 
its  commander. 


300  NEW  ORLEANS. 

The  sky  was  hidden  by  a  canopy  of  smoke,  streaked 
with  flames.  Heaps  of  burning  cotton,  sugar,  salt 
meats,  -spirits,  provisions  of  all  kinds  lined  the  levee. 
In  trie  river  the  shipping,  tug -boats,  and  gun-boats, 
floated  down  the  current  in  flames.  Molasses,  running 
like  water,  flushed  the  gutters.  All  night  the  city  had 
glowed  in  the  lurid  light  of  her  own  incendiarism. 
The  little  children,  seeing  the  gleams  through  the  closed 
windows,  and  hearing  the  cannons  from  the  forts,  trem- 
bled in  their  beds  in  terrified  wakefulness.  Deserted 
by  their  parents,  and  shrinking  instinctively  from  their 
negro  nurses,  they  asked  one  another  in  whispers  : 
"  Will  the  Yankees  kill  us  all  ?  " 

The  next  morning,  from  old  Christ  Church  belfry, 
on  Canal  street,  the  bell  tapped  the  alarm.  Mothers 
called  their  children  to  them,  and,  sitting  behind  closed 
doors,  listening,  counting,  cried,  "The  Yankees  are 
here  !  "  The  children,  horrified  to  see  a  mother  weep, 
cried  aloud,  too,  despairingly,  "  The  Yankees  are 
here  !  "  Slaves,  rushing  out,  leaving  the  houses  open, 
disordered,  behind  them,  shouted  triumphantly  to  one 
another,  "  The  Yankees  are  here  !  " 

The  rabble,  holding  riot  in  the  streets ;  men,  women, 
and  children,  staggering  under  loads  of  pilferings 
from  the  conflagration,  cried,  too,  "  The  Yankees  are 
here!" 

Early  in  the  morning  officers  came  from  the  flag-ship, 
bearing  a  summons  to  surrender.  The  mayor  deferred 
to  the  military  authority  in  command.  The  Confeder- 
ate general,  evacuating  the  city  with  his  army,  put  the 
responsibility  back  upon  the  mayor.  During  the  col- 
loquy in  the  city  hall,  the  populace  surged  and  raged 
in  the  streets  outside,  hurling  insults,  imprecations, 


NEW   ORLEANS.  301 

threats,  through  the  open  windows,  at  the  Union  officers. 
A  wild  hurrah  heralded  some  new  outburst.  There  was 
an  expectant  pause  in  the  mayor's  parlour.  Through  a 
window  a  ragged  bundle  was  thrown  into  the  room  ;  a 
mutilated,  denied,  United  States  flag  ;  the  flag  that  had 
just  been  hoisted  over  the  United  States  mint  by  a  barge 
crew.  Some  wild-spirited  lads  had  instantly  climbed 
the  staff  and  torn  the  flag  down,  to  drag  it,  followed  by 
a  hooting  mob,  through  the  street.  The  open  window 
of  the  city  hall  and  the  uniformed  officers  inside  were, 
in  the  temper  of  the  moment,  a  heaven-sent  opportunity 
for  insult. 

Sustained  by  his  council,  the  mayor  refused  to  either 
surrender  the  city  or  lower  the  state  flag  over  the  city 
hall.  The  Federals  could  take  the  city  if  they  wished, 
no  resistance  was  possible.  "  We  yield,"  he  wrote,  "to 
the  Federal  commander,  to  physical  force  alone,  and 
maintain  our  allegiance  to  the  government  of  the  Con- 
federate States.  Beyond  this  a  due  regard  for  our  dig- 
nity, our  rights,  and  the  flag  of  our  country  does  not,  I 
think,  permit  me  to  go."  The  Federal  commander 
then  notified  the  mayor  to  remove  the  women  and  chil- 
dren within  twenty-four  hours.  "  Sir,"  wrote  the  mayor 
to  this,  "  you  cannot  but  know  that  there  is  no  possible 
exit  from  the  city  for  a  population  that  exceeds  one 
hundred  and  forty  thousand,  and  you  must  therefore  be 
aware  of  the  utter  inanity  of  such  a  notification  ;  our 
women  and  children  cannot  escape  from  your  shells.  .  .  . 
You  are  not  satisfied  with  the  peaceable  possession  of  an 
undefended  city  ;  you  wish  to  humble  and  disgrace  us 
by  the  performance  of  an  act  against  which  our  nature 
rebels.  This  satisfaction  you  cannot  expect  at  our  hands. 
We  will  stand  your  bombardment  unarmed  and  defence- 


302  NEW  ORLEANS. 

less  as  we  are.  The  civilized  world  will  condemn  to 
indelible  infamy  the  heart  that  will  conceive  the  deed 
and  the  hand  that  will  dare  to  consummate  it." 

It  was  finally  decided  that  the  Federals  should  take 
possession  of  the  city,  and  themselves  lower  the  state 
flag  from  the  city  hall. 

The  mayor  issued  a  proclamation  requesting  all  citi- 
zens to  retire  to  their  homes  during  these  acts  of 
authority  which,  he  said,  it  would  be  folly  to  resist, 
reminding  them  that  at  least  their  own  authorities  had 
not  been  forced  to  lower  their  flag.  The  people,  not- 
withstanding, filled  the  streets  about  the  city  hall,  a 
lowering,  angry  crowd  that  shook  with  wrath  at  the 
sight  of  the  detachment  of  sailors  and  marines  in 
United  States  uniform,  which,  with  bayonets  fixed,  and 
preceded  by  two  howitzers,  crossed  Lafayette  square. 
They  were  halted  facing  St.  Charles  street ;  the  how- 
itzers were  drawn  into  the  thoroughfare  and  pointed  at 
the  crowd,  up  and  down. 

An  officer  with  attendants  mounted  the  steps  of  the 
city  hall  and  informed  the  mayor  that  he  would  proceed 
to  haul  down  the  flag.  The  mayor,  a  son  of  the  people 
himself,  and  not  schooled  in  the  niceties  of  etiquette, 
answered,  his  voice  trembling  with  emotion  :  "  Very 
well,  sir,  you  can  do  it ;  but  I  wish  to  say  that  there  is 
not  in  my  entire  constituency  so  wretched  a  renegade 
as  would  be  willing  to  exchange  places  with  you." 

The  mayor  then  descended  the  steps  of  the  hall  and 
placing  himself  in  front  of  the  crowd  and  close  to  the 
mouth  of  the  cannon  pointing  down  the  street,  he  stood 
there  immovably  with  folded  arms,  and  eyes  fixed  on 
the  gunner,  who,  lanyard  in  hand,  held  himself  in  readi- 
ness for  action.  The  crowd  preserved  a  breathless 


NEW  ORLEANS.  303 

silence.     The  state  flag  was   lowered  and  the  United 
States  colours  hoisted. 

The  United  States  officers  returned,  the  guns  were 
withdrawn,  the  uniformed  squad  moved  again  across 
Lafayette  square.  As  they  passed  through  the  Camp 
street  gate  they  heard  hurrahs  behind  them  ;  it  was 
the  crowd  cheering  their  mayor. 

The  naval  authorities  now  handed  the  city  over  to 
the  land  forces,  and  General  Benjamin  Butler  took 
possession  with  his  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men. 

The  regiments  marched  triumphantly  through  the 
streets  to  their  quarters,  banners  flying,  music  resound- 
ing ;  the  negroes,  in  possession  of  the  banquettes,  gave 
themselves  up  to  the  celebration  and  exhibition  of 
their  new  freedom.  It  was  their  hour  of  victory  —  and 
retribution.  Men,  women,  and  children  —  all,  all  were 
free  alike,  free  and  equal,  for  that  was  the  way  the 
phrase  ran  then.  The  white  men  looked  on  from  win- 
dows and  balconies  ;  the  women  still  sat  in  doors,  hold- 
ing their  children  together,  and  as  the  tread  of  the  pass- 
ing soldiers,  the  blare  of  the  music,  the  guffaw  of  the 
banquette  crowd  struck  their  ears,  —  they  thought,  not 
in  the  scientific  truisms,  political  axioms  or  logical 
sequences,  which  since  have  taught  them  resignation,  — 
and  they  did  not  shed  any  more  tears. 

Their  grandmothers  had  heard  the  shots  by  which 
O'Reilly  murdered  (as  they  called  it)  six  as  noble 
patriots  and  gentlemen  as  ever  lived,  but  their  grand- 
mothers had  never  felt  —  O'Reilly  never  dared — the 
insulting,  degrading  humiliation  of  this  moment.  Free, 
free  and  equal!  And  it  was  not  the  rich  mother,  the 
lady  mother  alone,  who  felt  this,  her  look  instinctively 
singling  out  her  little  daughters  —  the  poorest  mothers, 


304  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  commonest  scrub  of  a  white  working  woman  felt 
the  same  humiliation  put  upon  her  gutter  children  — 
and  cursed  the  power,  the  flag,  the  music,  the  soldiers 
that  were  doing  it. 

It  is  all  archaic  now,  and  sounds  ridiculous.  But, 
however  advanced  and  progressive  a  woman's  brain  may 
become,  in  an  emergency  she  always  seems  to  feel  in 
archaisms.  Negro  soldiers,  in  uniform,  ordering  them !! 
White  men  putting  negro  soldiers  over  them!!!  That 
was  as  far  as  their  hearts  and  minds  went  then. 

It  seems  a  trifling  consideration  in  a  great  war  what 
women  feel;  how  the  men  fight  is  the  important  fact. 
But  is  it  not  what  the  women  feel,  in  a  war  (the  chil- 
dren feeling  as  the  mothers  feel),  that  dictates  history 
in  advance?  Or,  as  it  might  be  said,  if  to  the  men 
belongs  the  war,  to  the  women  belongs  the  peace  after 
the  war.  At  least  it  was  so  in  New  Orleans- 

The  little  children  in  Beranger's  song  beg  about 
Napoleon,  — 

"  Parlez  nous  de  lui,  Grand'mere,  parlez  nous  de  lui." 

The  little  children  in  New  Orleans,  when  they  are  very 
good,  are  treated  by  their  grandmothers  not  to  the 
thrilling  adventures  of  Blue  Beard  and  Jack  the  Giant 
Killer,  but  to  tales  of  the  Federal  general  in  command 
of  the  city  during  the  war.  And  not  only  the  children 
enjoy  these  tales,  any  one,  and  —  as  the  Creoles  say, 
meaning  Northerners  —  even  the  Americans,  when  they 
want  (or  want  a  visiting  friend)  to  hear  a  good  story 
well  told,  ask  a  New  Orleans  woman  to  tell  her  expe- 
riences after  the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  Federals ; 
and  wherever  she  be,  in  Paris,  on  the  Nile,  or  seated  in 
her  own  parlour  or  on  her  own  balcony,  she  tells  it, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  305 

always  with  the  same  verve,  and  always,  if  possible,  with 
more  and  more  burlesque.  "  But  the  improbability  ! 
The  indiscretion!  "  Oh!  that  is  another  matter.  If 
women  are  to  tell  only  probable  and  discreet  stories  the 
Constitution  had  better  be  amended  forthwith. 

Nothing  less  than  official  dates  can  convince  one  that 
the  regime  in  question  lasted  but  little  over  six  months; 
it  seems  inconceivable  that  so  much  could  be  packed 
into  so  short  a  time.  And  it  was  not  laughable  then. 
As  Madeleine  Hachard  says,  one  laughs  over  one's  ad- 
ventures afterwards.  From  the  first  day,  sentinels 
were  stationed  at  suspected  doors,  and  domiciliary  visits 
made  for  arms,  papers,  flags,  and  other  treasonable 
matter.  Every  runaway  negro  could  carry  charges  of 
high  treason  and  concealed  treasures  to  the  provost 
marshal,  and  have  ladies'  armoires  promptly  searched 
and  bureau  drawers  run  through  by  soldiers'  hands,  as, 
in  old  days,  a  dishonest  servant's  room  was  searched ; 
yes,  and  the  lady,  too,  spoken  to  as  if  she  were  the 
negro  servant  and  the  theft  had  been  proven.  It  was 
something  to  make  children  open  their  eyes,  to  hear 
mothers  and  grandmothers  ordered  about  and  told  that 
they  were  untruthful,  and  see  their  pretty  things  tossed 
and  kicked  upon  the  floor.  Oh  !  the  provost  marshal ! 
What  terror  that  name  struck  to  the  childish  soul ;  it 
was  so  unintelligible,  and  it  meant  such  almightiness 
of  power! 

It  is  related  by  one  of  the  Federal  officers  present 
at  the  time,  that,  when  flag-officer  Farragut  reported  to 
General  Butler  the  tearing  down  of  the  United  States 
flag  from  the  mint,  the  latter  said  :  "•  I  will  make  an 
example  of  that  fellow  by  hanging  him."  The  naval 
oflicer  smiled  as  he  remarked  :  "  You  know  you  will 


306  NEW  OKLEANS. 

have  to  catch  him  and  then  hang  him."  "  I  know  that, 
but  I  will  catch  him  and  then  hang  him."  It  was  as 
easy  for  him  to  do  both  as  it  had  been  for  O'Reilly  to 
execute  his  predetermination. 

The  lad,  Mumford,  was  arrested,  tried  by  court- 
martial  and  condemned  to  be  hung.  A  cry  of  horror 
arose  from  the  city,  and,  as  with  O'Reilly,  every  means 
to  obtain  mercy  was  tried.  It  was  represented  and 
urged  that  the  city  had  not  surrendered  at  the  time; 
that  the  hoisting  of  the  flag  over  the  mint  was  itself 
unwarranted ;  the  youth  of  the  victim  was  pleaded ;  the 
ignorance,  the  irresponsibility  of  the  foolhardy  act,  the 
frenzied,  delirious  state  of  the  public  mind.  In  vain. 
An  example  must  be  made  ;  the  insult  to  the  flag  must 
be  avenged.  The  lad  was  hanged,  and  with  fine  dra- 
matic effect,  on  a  gallows  in  front  of  the  mint,  under 
the  very  flag-staff ;  serried  ranks  of  soldiers  guarding 
the  street.  But  see  how  unreliable  a  thing  an  exam- 
ple is,  how  it  may  turn  and  rend  that  very  principle 
which  it  was  begotten  to  illustrate.  In  vain,  now,  do 
historians  plead  and  military  authorities  represent,  in 
vain  are  explanations,  denials,  extenuations.  Forever, 
in  local  eyes,  will  the  front  of  the  mint  seem  to  bear 
the  Cain  mark  of  the  gallows  ;  forever  will  that  flag- 
staff seem  to  be  draped  with  the  anathemas  that  were 
uttered  by  every  mother's  heart,  the  day  of  the  hang- 
ing of  the  lad.  And  for  twenty  years  after  that  day 
there  wandered  through  the  streets  of  New  Orleans  a 
thin,  wrinkled,  bent,  crazy  woman,  wandering  always,  it 
seemed,  as  if  by  command,  across  groups  of  children  on 
their  way  to  and  from  school.  The  children  never  ran 
and  shrank  from  her  as  from  most  lunatics.  "Hush  !  " 
they  would  say;  "she  is  Mumford's  mother."  And 


NEW  ORLEANS.  307 

they  would  tell  the  story  to  one  another,  with  all  the 
improbable  variations  and  versions,  which  madden  his- 
torians, but  which  the  sympathetic  heart  never  fails  to 
add.  "  But  she  is  not  Mumford's  mother,"  many  would 
insist.  "She  only  thinks  she  is  Mumford's  mother." 
"  She  is  Mumford's  mother,  all  the  same,"  would  be  the 
reply.  During  the  school  hours,  the  poor  old  woman 
would  wander  in  the  business  thoroughfares,  and  when 
tired  out  she  would  crouch  in  the  corner  of  some  house- 
step  and  sleep,  and  the  passers-by  would  slip  a  coin  into 
her  lap  (she  never  begged  awake).  "  That  is  Mum- 
ford's  poor  mother,"  they  would  explain. 

The  doughty  but  unmannerly  mayor  was  sent  to  the 
casemates  of  one  fort,  his  young  secretary  to  another, 
his  legal  advisers  were  shipped  to  Fort  Lafayette.  It 
was  hard  for  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans  to  believe  that 
these  two  great  French  lawyers,  Soule  and  Mazureau, 
could  be  sent  off  like  common  felons.  But  that  was 
in  the  beginning,  when  one  could  be  surprised.  First 
and  last,  over  sixty  prominent  citizens  were  sent  to  the 
forts,  or  to  that  other  well-proved  place  of  imprison- 
ment, Ship  Island,  where  the  contumacious  were  fast- 
ened with  ball  and  chain,  and  made  to  fill  sand  bags 
under  a  negro  guard.  With  all  the  patriotism  in  the 
world  to  sustain  their  hearts  and  to  preserve  their  dig- 
nity, the  luxurious  gentlemen  of  New  Orleans  some- 
times, when  the  sun  was  more  unbearably  hot  than 
usual  and  no  one  was  in  earshot,  were  not  above  making 
an  appeal  occasionally  to  their  black  drivers,  using  old- 
time  cajoleries.  "Come  now,  uncle,  let  up  a  little." 
"Don't  call  me  uncle  ;  I  ain't  no  kin  o'  yourn."  The 
stern  rebuke  has  passed  into  a  proverb. 

Everybody  was  arrested ;  clergymen  for  refusing  to 


308  NEW  ORLEANS. 

pray  for  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  all 
others  in  authority,  editors  for  publishing  Confederate 
victories,  doctors  for  refusing  fraternal  recognition  of 
Union  doctors,  druggists  for  selling  drugs  to  persons 
going  into  the  Confederacy,  storekeepers  for  refusing 
to  open  their  stores,  a  bookseller  who  exhibited  a  skel- 
eton marked  "  Chickahominy,"  any  one  possessing  trea- 
sonable pictures  or  papers  (illustrated  papers  favourable 
to  the  Confederacy).  The  commandant's  system  was 
so  perfect,  that  he  boasted  he  had  a  spy  behind  the 
chair  of  every  rebel  family  head  in  the  city.  The 
result  was,  that  no  man  arose  in  the  morning  with  any 
certainty  that  he  might  not  spend  the  next  night  in 
jail. 

Even  women  were  arrested.  A  lady  was  sent  to 
Ship  Island  for  laughing  while  a  Federal  funeral  pro- 
cession was  passing  her  house.  An  old  lady  teacher 
was  sent  to  a  prison  in  the  city  for  having  a  Confede- 
rate document  in  her  possession ;  young  ladies  were 
arrested  and  carried  before  the  provost  marshal  for 
singing  "  Dixie  "  and  the  "  Bonnie  Blue  Flag."  "The 
venom  of  the  she -adder  is  as  dangerous  as  that  of  the 
he-adder  "  was  the  legend  General  Butler  had  printed 
and  hung  up  in  his  office  ;  it  was  adopted  as  the  watch- 
word of  his  emulative  subordinates.  Every  day  women 
were  brought  to  his  Star  Chamber  by  scores,  to  stand 
before  him,  while  he  sat  cursing  the  men  of  the  Con- 
federacy and  lecturing  them  on  their  want  of  respect 
to  the  United  States ;  a  Confederate  flag  had  been 
found  in  their  houses  ;  a  miniature  one  had  been  worn 
in  their  hair  or  stuck  in  their  fichus ;  the  flowers  in 
their  bonnets  were  arranged  to  represent  Confederate 
colours ;  they  had  their  dresses  fastened  with  Confeder- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  309 

ate  buttons ;  they  had  refused  to  enter  a  car  or  omni- 
bus in  which  they  saw  a  Federal  soldier ;  they  walked 
out  in  the  street  to  avoid  passing  under  the  United 
States  flag  hanging  over  the  banquette.  The  general 
however,  bethought  him  of  a  correction  of  this  dis- 
respect ;  flags  were  hung  not  only  over  the  sidewalks  of 
the  principal  streets,  but  strings  of  them  were  stretched 
entirely  across  the  street,  and  guards  were  placed  to 
seize  the  women  who  tried  to  avoid  passing  under  them, 
and  compel  the  ordeal ;  but  even  as  they  were  being 
dragged  under,  the  women  would  manage  to  draw  their 
shawls  over  their  heads  or  put  up  their  parasols.  And 
then  General  Butler  launched  his  Order  No.  28  against 
the  ladies  of  New  Orleans,  the  order  that  can  only  be 
alluded  to  in  polite  society  ;  that  was  condemned  in 
the  House  of  Lords  as  without  precedent  in  the  annals 
of  war,  and  denounced  in  the  House  of  Commons  as 
repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  the  nineteenth  century  ; 
that  drew  from  the  "  London  Times  "  the  comment  that 
it  realized  all  that  had  ever  been  told  of  tyranny  by 
victor  over  the  vanquished,  and  that  no  state  of  negro 
slavery  could  be  more  absolute  than  that  endured  by 
the  whites  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 

A  passing  stranger,  an  alien,  relates  that  he  was  caught 
on  a  street  corner  in  a  shower  of  rain  one  afternoon,  and 
saw  two  curs  fighting.  *  The  whipped  one  ran  away,  and 
he  remarked  that  the  cur  was  simply  "  making  a  change 
of  base,"  which  was  a  Federal  newspaper's  explana- 
tion of  a  recent  defeat  of  one  of  the  Union  armies. 
The  stranger  was  immediately  arrested,  conveyed  to 
the  custom  house,  imprisoned  all  night,  and  taken 
before  Butler  in  the  morning'.  "The  general,"  so  his 
account  runs,  "  sat  dressed  in  full  uniform,  with  sword  • 


310  NEW  ORLEANS. 

on  tne  table  before  him  lay  a  loaded  revolver,  sentinels 
stood  at  the  door,  orderlies  and  soldiers  crowded  the 
anteroom.  An  Irishwoman  was  asking  for  a  passport 
to  go  to  her  son  in  the  Confederate  army.  After  much 
billingsgate  on  both  sides,  '  Well,  now,  General  Butler,' 
she  said,  '  the  question  is,  are  you  going  to  give  me  a 
passport  or  are  you  not  ? '  He  coolly  leaned  back  in 
his  chair  and  with  a  provoking  smile  slowly  replied: 
'  No,  woman,  I  will  never  give  a  rebel  mother  a  pass  to 
go  to  see  a  rebel  son.'  She  gazed  at  him  a  moment, 
and  then  as  coolly  and  deliberately  replied:  '  General 
Butler,  if  I  thought  the  devil  was  as  ugly  a  man  as 
you,  I  would  double  my  prayers  night  and  morning, 
that  I  might  never  fall  into  his  clutches; '  and,  bolting 
past  the  sentinels,  she  disappeared." 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  gentlemen  among  the 
Federal  officers  found  their  position  under  their  com- 
mander intolerable,  even  for  soldiers.  Not  being  dis- 
ciplined to  his  mode  of  warfare,  they  had,  from  the  day 
of  their  occupation  of  the  city,  been  overstrained  by 
their  secret  anxieties  and  their  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
vanquished.  Like  the  Spanish  officers  under  O'Reilly, 
they  found  a  thousand  common  feelings  to  counterbal- 
ance the  one  great  political  difference ;  past  friendships, 
ties,  relationships,  if  other  reason  were  needed  than  the 
one  that  they  were  gentlemen,  arid  their  enemies  women 
and  children  ;  fearfully  and  restlessly  they  haunted 
the  streets,  swarming  with  arrogant  negro  and  white 
soldiers,  quaking  much  more  before  an  application  of 
their  general's  order  than  the  women  themselves  did  ; 
hence  volumes  of  delicate  episodes  and  pretty  ro- 
mances, which  the  women  of  the  period  love  also  to 
relate. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  311 

The  foreign  consuls  exerted  themselves  in  every 
way ;  the  French  consul  exercising,  as  French  consuls 
always  will  in  New  Orleans,  a  ^Mast-paternal  author- 
ity "ver  the  citizens,  soothed,  advised,  helped.  The 
captains  of  foreign  vessels  in  port  offered  their  friend- 
ship and  assistance.  It  wa:  needed  under  so  energetic 
a  conqueror.  In  September,  all  persons,  male  and 
female,  who  had  not  renewed  their  allegiance  to  the 
United  States,  or  who  held  sympathy  with  or  alle- 
giance to  the  Confederate  States,  were  ordered  to  re- 
port themselves  to  the  nearest  provost  marshal,  with  a 
descriptive  list  of  all  their  property,  real,  personal,  and 
mixed,  their  place  of  residence  and  their  occupation, 
signed  by  themselves,  to  receive  a  certificate  from  the 
marshal  as  claiming  to  be  enemies  or  friends  of  the 
United  States.  Neglect  to  register  subjected  the  de- 
linquent to  fine  or  imprisonment  with  hard  labour,  or 
both,  with  his  or  her  property  confiscated.  The  form  of 
the  oath  of  allegiance  prescribed  was  an  "iron-clad"  one. 
Another  order  required  every  householder  to  return  to 
the  nearest  provost  marshal  a  list  of  inmates,  with  sex, 
age,  occupation,  and  a  statement  whether  registered 
alien,  loyal,  or  enemy  to  the  United  States,  with  the 
usual  penalty  for  neglect.  Policemen  were  held  re- 
sponsible for  returns  on  their  beats.  It  was  a  virtual 
sentence  of  transportation  against  the  families  of  Con- 
federate soldiers. 

The  women  and  children,  the  registered  enemies  to 
the  United  States,  allowed  but  little  more  than  the 
clothing  on  their  bodies,  were  put  across  the  lines  into 
the  Confederacy.  These  were  the  fortunate  ones  who 
had  means  and  connections  in  the  Confederacy,  but 
the  majority,  the  widowed  mothers  whose  sons  were 


312  NEW  OBLEANS. 

in  the  army,  the  wives  of  clerks  and  workingmen  whose 
husbands  were  fighting,  these  were  forced  to  the  per- 
jury of  the  iron-clad  oath ;  and  of  all  the  exigencies  of 
the  war,  this  was  unqualifiedly  the  saddest,  the  costliest. 

Then  followed  the  carnival  of  confiscations  and  auc- 
tion sales. 

The  commandant-general  had  seized  one  of  the 
handsomest  residences  in  the  city  for  his  personal  use. 
Those  of  his  subordinates  who  cared  to  follow  his  exam- 
ple, selected  each  his  house,  ordering  the  owner  out 
and  taking  possession  ;  and  after  these  came  the  great 
number  of  civil  employees,  who  had  to  be  housed,  and 
with  them  it  was  also  a  mere  question  of  taking  and 
having.  But  after  these  there  were  the  camp  followers, 
those  who  came,  as  the  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar  would 
say,  for  the  mere  accumulation  of  wealth.  It  was  for 
them  a  land  of  Canaan,  such  as  they  knew  Providence 
would  never  repeat.  Seizures  and  confiscations  threw 
opportunities  of  a  lifetime  upon  the  market ;  and  while 
no  man  was  sure  when  he  arose  in  the  morning  that 
he  would  not  spend  the  night  in  jail,  no  woman  now 
when  she  arose  in  the  morning  was  sure  that  she  would 
not  spend  that  night  in  the  streets. 

The  property  of  the  registered  enemies  was  not  con- 
fiscated, but  the  alternative  was  little  better.  Not 
allowed  to  take  anything  but  necessary  clothing,  and 
the  time  of  preparation  for  departure  being  short,  fami- 
lies of  limited  means  were  forced  to  sell  everything  at 
auction.  The  auctions  were  in  the  hands  of  a  "ring.'' 
The  sales  were  a  mockery.  A  woman  who  considered 
her  effects  worth  a  thousand  dollars  might,  it  is  said, 
if  she  were  exceedingly  meek  and  humble,  and  paid  all 
commissions,  receive  a  balance  of  twenty  or  thirty  dol- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  313 

lars.  The  auction  marts,  as  may  be  expected,  were 
crowded.  Houses,  horses,  carriages,  jewelry,  wardrobes, 
silk  and  satin  gowns,  filmy  articles  of  ladies'  under- 
clothing, family  portraits,  silver,  were  put  up  every 
day.  A  man  with  a  thousand  dollars  bought  ten  thou- 
sand dollars'  worth.  A  soldier's  pay  would  purchase  a 
family  outfit.  Camp  followers,  washerwomen,  and 
cooks,  wore  velvets ;  real  laces  sold  for  the  price  of 
calico  ;  negresses  went  around  blazing  in  jewelry. 
The  treasure  heaps  of  a  Barataria  were  scattered 
broadcast  in  the  city  for  two  months.  Entire  libraries 
and  sets  of  furniture,  horses  and  carriages,  pictures, 
pianos,  clocks,  carpets,  cases  of  bric-a-brac,  were  packed 
and  sent  to  distant  homes.  Silver,  in  banks  or  in  table 
service,  was  always  treasonable  if  in  the  possession  of 
a  Confederate  sympathizer,  as  it  was  called,  and  it 
seemed  at  times  that  the  sympathy  was  only  treason- 
able in  proportion  to  the  silver  possessed.  But  there 
was  a  way  of  ransoming  the  silver  and  property,  as 
there  had  been  a  way  of  ransoming  delicate  old  gentle- 
men from  Ship  Island  and  the  forts ;  and  if  the  women 
of  the  house  were  nervous,  and  their  imaginations 
easily  influenced  by  terror  for  themselves  or  their  rela- 
tives, they  did  not  haggle  over  terms  or  means,  and  the 
profit  was  the  same-  to  the  avengers  of  loyalty. 

All  this,  as  every  one  has  explained  since,  until  every 
one  knows  it,  was  only  according  to  the  fortunes  of 
war.  Even  the  children  in  their  rudiments  should  have 
known  it  then,  for  what  had  their  a,  6,  c's  served  them 
unless  to  spell  out  how,  in  the  past,  this  nation  or  man 
had  conquered  that  nation  or  man,  at  this  place  and  at 
that,  and  what  had  happened  afterwards?  and  if  even 
the  women  had  considered,  what  they  endured  was 


314  NEW  ORLEANS. 

infinitely  easier  warfare  than  history  or  romance  had 
pictured,  in  many  instances,  even  since  the  Middle 
Ages.  But  history  and  romance  never  disappear  so 
completely  from  the  memory  as  when  experience  in 
propria  persona  makes  her  appearance. 

"  The  fortunes  of  war  "  was  also  proven  during  these 
rare  opportunities  not  entirely  an  allegorical  expression ; 
and  in  its  other  sense,  the  practical,  it  had  chapters  of 
enlightenment  for  the  military  novice  as  well  as  for  the 
civil,  for  the  conquerors  as  well  as  for  the  conquered, 
a  truth  which  the  following  sufficiently  illustrates. 
The  Englishman,  the  alien  in  the  Confederate  States, 
as  he  calls  himself,  whose  experience  under  the  Butler 
regime  has  been  quoted,  relates  that  some  years  after 
he  left  New  Orleans  he  happened  to  be  on  a  steamer  at 
Nassau,  and  observing  some  negro  boatmen  alongside 
throwing  over  meat  to  an  enormous  shark  which  they 
called  Butler,  he  asked  them  why  they  applied  such  a 
name  to  an  honest  shark.  They  said  it  was  because  he 
kept  away  all  other  sharks  from  the  bay,  so  as  to  have 
all  the  prey  for  himself. 

In  December,  General  Banks  superseded  General 
Butler.  The  populace  which,  in  the  exercise  of  its 
infallible  prerogative  as  populace,  branded  the  first  con- 
queror of  New  Orleans  as  "  Bloody  O'Reilly,"  has  sent 
the  second  conqueror  of  the  city  down  to  posterity 
marked  as  "Beast  Butler." 

Some  civil  organization  of  the  place  was  now  at- 
tempted on  the  new  political  basis.  The  military 
authorities  had  courts  opened  and  appointed  magis- 
trates, "  Union "  magistrates.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  appointed  Union  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  An  election  was  held,  and  a  Union  governor 


NEW  ORLEANS.  315 

elected,  a  Union  constitutional  convention  was  held, 
and  a  Union  constitution  of  the  state  adopted,  a  Union 
legislature  elected.  The  closed  Protestant  churches 
were  unbarred  and  services  were  conducted  in  them  by 
Union  ministers,  and  there  was  even  an  effort  made  at 
social  gayety;  balls  and  receptions  were  given  by  the 
military  authorities  to  Union  guests,  who  practised 
social  equality  with  the  negroes.  For  long  years,  after 
all  this  was  over,  a  coloured  barber,  famous  in  local 
circles  (as  all  good  barbers  everywhere  are  famous)  for 
his  inimitable  loquacity,  used  to  tell  how  he  once  opened 
such  a  ball  with  the  wife  of  the  general  in  command 
(with  what  truth  the  word  of  a  barber  guarantees). 
But  the  story  was  a  good  one,  and  told  most  delectably, 
and  the  old  seedy  Confederates  were  glad  enough  to 
hear  it,  and  laugh  away  some  of  their  chagrin  over  it, 
and  carry  it  home  to  their  wives  and  children,  who 
found  it  vastly  amusing  too. 

But  to  the  natives,  that  period,  to  the  close  of  the 
war,  is  vague  and  confused  like  the  last  hours  of  a  long 
vigil  at  the  side  of  a  death-bed.  The  newspapers  pub- 
lished their  Union  versions  of  the  battles  outside,  with 
lists  of  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  until  every  other 
woman  of  the  old  New  Orleans  that  walked  the  streets 
was  in  mourning.  Gunboats  steamed  ever  up  and 
down  the  river  on  mysterious  expeditions ;  armies 
passed  and  repassed  through  the  city,  as  if  there  were 
no  end  of  men  in  the  world  to  fight  against  the  Con- 
federates. The  hospitals  were  filled  with  Confederate 
wounded,  the  prisons  with  Confederate  captives. 

The  Confederate  women  in  the  city  (those  who  had 
signed  Butler's  register,  doubly  perjuring  themselves) 
now  worked  with  desperate  energy,  besieging  provost 


316  NEW  ORLEANS. 

marshals'  offices,  —  bribing,  deceiving,  flattering  even  the 
negro  sentinels  on  duty,  —  tying  desperately  if  need  be, 
to  gain  admittance  to  the  prisons  and  hospitals ;  to  get 
to  the  pallet  of  a  dying  boy,  or  to  help  an  able-bodied 
soldier  to  escape.  And  they  did  escape,  the  able-bodied 
ones,  by  hundreds.  And  news  had  to  be  sent  into  the 
Confederacy,  and  medicines  and  surgical  instruments. 
There  was  one  woman  contrabandist  who  distinguished 
herself  above  all,  a  young  handsome  Irish  woman,  who 
feared,  as  she  said,  naught  and  nobody,  her  confession 
once  made  and  the  sacrament  received,  and  a  package 
of  medicine  for  the  Confederates  outside  hidden  about 
her  person,  if  the  night  were  only  dark  or  stormy 
enough  for  her  skiff  to  get  by  the  sentinels  and  out 
into  Lake  Pontchartrain.  Once  she  was  sighted  and 
fired  into,  but  she  rowed  her  twelve  miles  over,  with 
a  bullet  in  her  leg,  and  got  back  into  the  city  the  next 
day,  with  her  return  mail. 

The  surrender  of  the  Confederacy,  the  end  of  it  all, 
is  the  one  watershed  at  which  all  good  stories,  voluble 
resentments,  gay  denunciations,  and  humorous  self- 
confessions  turn  back.  It  is  the  one  item  of  their  past 
over  which  the  women  of  New  Orleans  shed  tears 

The  rest  is  usually  run  into  a  hurried  summary,  one- 
sided, perhaps  —  most  probably,  but  where  there  are 
two  sides  of  a  thing  or  a  question,  the  other  side  is 
always  procurable,  and  one  tells  best  the  side  one  has 
learned  personally.  "  C'est  souliers  tout  seuls  qui  savent 
si  bas  tini  trous  "  is  a  proverb  of  Creole  mammies  which 
can  be  understood  ;  "  Shoes  are  only  called  upon  to 
know  the  holes  in  their  own  stockings." 

There  was  one  year  of  simple  existence  and  endur- 
ance of  the  new  condition  of  things  :  negro  soldiers, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  317 

negro  policemen,  negro  officials,  and  hired  negro 
manials;  with  United  States  soldiers  in  garrisons  all 
around  about  and  aides-de-camp  in  glittering  uniforms 
galloping  through  the  streets  ;  and  the  new  poverty, 
new  toil  and  stress,  changed  society ;  the  old  sense  of 
ownership  of  the  city,  which  the  very  children  possessed, 
gone  forever.  It  was  a  year  of  stupor  and,  as  it 
seems  now,  of  grace.  And  after  that  there  is  more, 
much  more,  to  tell.  It  must  be  given  here  briefly. 

In  1866,  Congress  enacted  that  no  seceding  state 
could  be  re-established  in  its  old  representative  rights 
in  the  Union  until  it  had  reconstructed  its  constitu- 
tion by  a  ratification  of  the  fourteenth  amendment, 
making  negroes  citizens  of  the  state  and  of  the  United 
States,  forbidding  legislation  to  abridge  their  rights 
and  excluding  a  certain  class  of  ex-Confederates  from 
office. 

As  such  a  reconstruction  was  optional,  but  one  of 
the  Confederate  States  availed  itself  of  the  privilege 
of  qualifying  for  representation.  Congress  therefore 
determined  upon  a  forced  reconstruction,  and  by  the 
"iron  laws,"  as  they  have  been  well  called,  of  1867, 
put  the  Confederate  States  under  military  rulers,  who 
were  charged  with  the  power  and  authority  to  work 
the  machinery  of  constitutional  government  and  recon- 
struct the  states  according  to  the  plans  laid  down. 

The  vote  was  registered  in  Louisiana  ;  46,218  whites 
to  84,431  negroes,  and  a  constitutional  convention  was 
called.  It  met  in  what  was  then  the  Mechanics'  Insti- 
tute (now  old  Tulane  Hall).  The  students  in  the 
neighbouring  Medical  College  and  Jesuits'  College,  who 
were  just  beginning,  with  the  happy  ease  of  youth,  to 
forget  their  childhood  horrors  of  war,  were  startled  one 


318  NEW  ORLEANS. 

day  over  their  school-books  by  pistol-shots,  screams,  and 
cries  in  the  streets  near  them.  Those  who  ventured 
•to  look  out  saw  a  wild,  infuriated  mob  in  thf  streets, 
and  heard  the  cries  of  a  hell  in  the  great  ugly  build- 
ing in  front,  from  which  negroes  trying  to  escape  were 
climbing  out  of  windows,  and  over  the  roof,  dropping 
down  wounded,  bleeding,  dead,  in  the  surrounding 
court.  This  was  the  beginning  of  reconstruction,  as 
middle-aged  men  and  women  now  recall  it,  the  response 
of  the  whites  to  the  test  oath  and  governing  negro  vote. 
To  the  children  of  the  city,  trembling  and  anguished,, 
sent  home  from  school  after  dark,  under  careful  escort, 
it  was  a  never-to-be-forgotten  day.  It  has  never  been 
forgotten. 

But  the  negro  vote  nevertheless  remained,  and  the 
test  oath,  and  behind  both  the  coercive  power  of  the 
triumphant  army  of  the  United  States.  The  era  of 
the  "carpet  bag"  government  set  in;  the  golden  era 
for  American  enterprise,  which,  it  may  be  said  by  an 
American,  is  never  so  brilliantly  displayed  as  in  politics. 

With  an  iron-clad  oath  barring  every  state  and 
federal  office,  every  court  of  justice,  every  jury,  with 
the  whole  machinery  of  government  framed  for  the  one 
purpose  of  keeping  them  in  power,  with  a  registered 
vote  of  84,000  negroes  behind  them,  and  the  white 
population  disfranchised  into  civil  impotence,  with  the 
United  States  army  always  garrisoning  their  polling 
places,  counting  their  votes  and  doing  police  duty  for 
them  —  and  with  a  returning  board  of  their  own  to 
certify  their  elections,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of 
a  more  perfect  millenium  for  the  aspiring  Republi- 
can politicians  of  the  day  —  and  they  recognized  it. 
Crowds,  carpet  bag  in  hand,  nocked  from  North,  East, 


NEW  ORLEANS.  319 

and  West ;  hundreds,  nay  thousands,  had  not  even  to 
travel  to  it  ;  soldiers  disbanded  from  the  army  one  day 
became  political  leaders  the  next,  stepping  into  office 
and  fortune  the  following  week.  An  ex-soldier  became 
governor  of  the  state,  with  a  negro  lieutenant-governor, 
and  so  on,  black  and  white,  Union  soldiers  and  ne- 
groes, through  every  department  down  to  the  end. 
There  was  no  end  to  the  offices,  nor  to  the  office  seek- 
ers for  contracts,  awards,  monopolies,  and  grants  and 
privileges  carried  what  should  have  been  the  end  of 
patronage  or  greed,  —  around  to  the  governor  again ; 
and  so,  the  fingers  of  one  touching  the  palm  of  the  other, 
the  circle  was  completed.  The  state  debt  was  increased 
over  forty  millions  of  dollars.  To  quote  a  recent  pub- 
lication : l 

"  The  wealth  of  Louisiana  made  the  state  a  special  temptation 
to  carpet-baggers.  Between  1866  and  1871  taxes  had  risen  four 
hundred  and  fifty  per  cent.  Before  the  war,  a  session  of  the  legis- 
lature cost  from  $100,000  to  $200,000 ;  in  1871  the  regular  session 
cost  $900,000.  Judge  Black  considered  it  '  safe  to  say  that  a  gen- 
eral conflagration,  sweeping  over  all  the  state,  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  and  destroying  every  building  and  every  article  of  personal 
property,  would  have  been  a  visitation  of  mercy  in  comparison  to 
the  curse  of  such  a  government.'  This  statement  is  not  extrava- 
gant if  his  other  assertion  is  correct,  that  during  the  ten  years  pre- 
ceding 1876,  New  Orleans  paid  in  the  form  of  direct  taxes  more 
than  the  estimated  value  of  all  the  property  within  her  limits  in 
the  year  named,  and  still  had  a  debt  of  equal  amount  unpaid." 

The  old  St.  Louis  hotel  became  the  state  house. 
George  Augustus  Sala,  not  then,  but  later,  when  affairs 

1  "  A  History  of  the  Last  Quarter  Century  in  the  United  States," 
E.  Benjamin  Andrews,  Scribner's  Monthly,  March-June,  1895.  The 
author,  in  the  foregoing  and  following,  is  indebted  to  these  articles 
for  much  beside  the  quotation. 


320  NEW  ORLEANS. 

were  much  improved,  visited  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives assembled  in  the  ball-room,  and  describes  the 
forlorn  appearance  of  the  colossal  pile  which  had  once 
been  the  resort,  as  he  says,  of  wealthy  planters,  their 
stately  spouses  and  their  beautiful  and  accomplished 
daughters.  .  .  .  "Wherever  you  turned,  the  spirit  of 
dismalness  seemed  to  have  laid  its  hand.  .  .  .  New 
Orleans,  I  have  more  than  once  remarked,  offers  among 
all  American  cities  pre-eminently  a  feast  of  picturesque 
form  and  bright  and  varied  colour  to  European  eyes ;  but 
within  the  walls  of  the  state  house  a  universal  mono- 
chrome pitilessly  reigns,  or  rather  the  negation  of  all 
colour  —  black  and  white.  But  I  was  aroused  from  my 
reverie  by  the  voice  of  a  gentleman  who  was  addressing 
the  house.  It  was  somewhat  of  a  variable  and  capri- 
cious voice,  at  one  time  hoarse  and  rasping,  at  another 
shrilly  treble,  and  the  orator  ended  his  periods  now 
with  a  sound  resembling  a  chuckle,  and  now  with  one 
as  closely  akin  to  a  grunt.  So  far  —  being  rather  hard 
of  hearing  —  as  I  could  make  out,  the  honourable  legis- 
lator was  remarking  :  '  Dat  de  gen'lm  from  de  parish 
of  St.  Quelquechose  was  developing  assertions  and 
expurgating  ratiocinations  clean  agin  de  fust  principles 
of  law  and  equity,'  upon  which  the  orator  sat  down. 
.  .  .  What  was  the  precise  mode  of  catching  the 
speaker's  eye  I  could  not  exactly  discern,  for  more 
than  one  honourable  gentleman  seemed  to  be  on  his 
legs  at  the  same  time.  When  the  contingency  seemed 
to  be  imminent  of  everybody's  addressing  the  house 
at  once,  the  dull  measured  sound  of  the  presi- 
dent's hammer,  or  '  gavel,'  as  in  Masonic  parlance  the 
implement  of  order  is  called,  was  audible.  Ere  the 
orator  who  had  apostrophized  the  gentleman  from  St. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  321 

Quelquechose  had  resumed  his  seat,  I  had  ample  time 
to  make  a  study  of  his  facial  outline,  for  there  was  a 
window  close  behind  him,  against  which  his  profile  was 
denned  as  sharply  as  in  one  of  those  old  black  sil- 
houette portraits  which  they  used  to  take  for  sixpence 
on  the  old  chain  pier  at  Brighton.  The  honourable 
legislator  had  a  fully  developed  Ethiopian  physiog- 
nomy, but  when  he  sat  down  I  found  that  in  hue  he 
was  only  a  mulatto.  There  were  more  coloured  mem- 
bers in  the  house,  some  of  them  '  bright '  mulattoes  and 
quadroons,  very  handsome  and  distinguished  look- 
ing. ...  A  Southern  gentleman  pointed  out  to  us 
one  of  the  coloured  representatives  who,  prior  to  the 
war,  had  been  his,  the  gentleman's,  slave  and  body- 
servant."  .  .  . 

The  returning  board  appointed  by  the  governor  to 
go  over  the  returns  as  they  came  from  the  commission- 
ers at  the  polls  and  count  the  votes,  decided,  and  it 
might  be  said  awarded,  the  elections,  or,  as  the  people 
called  it,  counted  in  the  candidates.  Every  year  the 
test  oath  became  less  prohibitive,  white  youths  attain- 
ing their  majority  and  political  disabilities  being  re- 
moved from  elders  by  the  pardoning  power  of  the 
United  States.  To  liberate  the  state  from  the  machin- 
ery of  negro  and  carpet-bag  government,  to  put  an  end 
to  the  plundering  of  public  finances,  and  to  the  making 
of  laws  and  the  distorting  of  courts  of  justice  into  polit- 
ical copartnerships  with  the  ruling  powers,  and  to  free 
themselves  from  the  military  tutelage  forced  upon  them, 
became  the  absorbing  ambition  of  every  Southern  voter 
in  the  Southern  state.  This  ambition  effaced  the  issues 
of  the  war  and  the  grinding  necessities  of  the  moment, 
and  it  united  the  men  into  a  "  Solid  South,"  which 


322  NEW  ORLEANS. 

was  the  Confederate  postscriptum  of  the  war,  to  meet 
the  Federal  postscriptum  of  reconstruction  ;  and  the 
children,  as  they  grew,  grew  into  solidity  against  the 
military  and  civil  tyranny  over  their  country.  In 
the  passionate  fervour  of  young  hearts,  they  saw  them- 
selves as  a  generation  consecrated  by  parental  blood 
and  ruin  and  desolation  to  the  holy  service  of  redeem- 
ing the  South  from  negro  supremacy,  and  removing 
her  neck,  as  they  said  then,  from  under  the  foot  of  her 
conqueror.  This  was  the  generation  who  had  not 
fought  but  who  were  old  enough  to  have  seen  the  mis- 
ery of  their  parents  through  defeat.  It  was  such  a 
generation,  under  the  leadership  of  the  old  soldiers  and 
the  great  hero  generals  of  the  war,  that  the  reconstruc- 
tionists  attempted  to  reconstruct.  In  New  Orleans 
the  inherent  political  irascibility  of  the  people  made 
the  place  a  volcano  of  political  passion.  The  carpet- 
bag and  negro  party,  despite  its  superior  military  and 
political  power,  saw  itself  becoming  hopelessly  over- 
matched by  the  civil  and  social  power  organized  against 
it ;  and,  as  in  every  other  community  in  the  South,  the 
Southern  whites  and  the  negroes  trembled  on  the  brink 
of  a  racial  war. 

Meanwhile,,  the  reconstructionists  quarrelled  among 
themselves  over  the  spoils,  according  to  the  monoto- 
nously regular  experience  of  spoilsmen.  The  leaders 
—  carpet-baggers  no  longer  —  over-rich  in  every  form 
of  wealth  that  Louisiana  could  give  or  negro  votes 
legislate  to  them  ;  lands,  bonds,  and  cash,  monopolies 
and  trusts,  excited  the  jealousy  of  adherents  in  their 
own  class  and  the  distrust  of  the  negroes. 

Our  authority  previously  quoted  heads  his  account 
of  what  followed:  "Anarchy  in  Louisiana." 


NEW  ORLEANS.  323 

To  borrow  his  succinct  statement 1  of  the  facts  and  of 
the  resultant  situations :  — 

"The  election  of  1870  gave  Louisiana  to  the  Republicans  by  a 
substantial  majority,  but  almost  immediately  the  party  began  to 
break  up  into  factions.  The  governor  was  opposed  by  the  leading 
federal  officers,  who  succeeded  in  gaining  control  of  the  Repub- 
lican state  convention.  .  .  .  On  the  death,  during  the  previous 
year,  of  the  coloured  lieutenant-governor,  a  coloured  adherent  of 
the  governor  had  been  elected  president  of  the  Senate,  but  the  Ad- 
ministration leaders  declared  his  election  illegal.  .  .  .  There  was 
a  bitter  struggle  in  the  House,  during  which  the  governor  and  a 
number  of  his  supporters  were  arrested  by  the  federal  authori- 
ties ;  and  the  speaker  was  deposed.  A  congressional  committee 
investigated  the  quarrel,  but  could  not  quiet  it.  .  .  . 

"The  governor  and  his  coloured  president  of  the  Senate  became 
estranged ;  the  governor  headed  a  Liberal  Republican  movement, 
which  after  much  manoeuvring  united  with  the  Democratic  party 
in  a  fusion  ticket.  The  coloured  president  of  the  Senate  was  nomi- 
nated for  congressman-at-large  by  the  Republicans,  whose  ticket 
was  headed  by  a  new  carpet-bag  candidate  for  governor. 

"  The  result  of  the  election  was  hotly  disputed.  Two  returning 
boards  existed  —  one  favouring  the  governor,  the  other  the  col- 
oured politician's  ticket.  The  governor's  board  declared  his  ticket 
elected  by  seven  thousand  majority ;  the  coloured  politician's  board 
declared  his  ticket  elected  by  nearly  nineteen  thousand  majority . 
and  each  board  made  up  its  own  list  of  members  for  the  legis- 
lature." .  .  . 

The  members  of  the  two  Legislatures  arrived  in  the 
city,  determined  to  meet.  At  midnight,  before  the  day 
appointed  for  meeting,  the  Republican  leaders  secured 
from  a  federal  judge  an  order  enjoining  the  Liberal 
legislators  from  meeting,  and  directing  the  United 
States  marshal  to  take  possession  of  the  state  house 

1  Not  entirely  verbatim  ;  designations  have  been  substituted  foi 
proper  names,  and  some  sentences  slightly  changed,  in  order  to  com- 
])ass  necessary  abbreviations. 


324  NEW  ORLEANS. 

President  Grant  favoured  the  coloured  Republicans' 
claimants  and  ordered  the  federal  troops  to  support 
him.  On  the  morning  of  the  day  for  the  meeting 
of  the  legislature,  a  federal  officer,  therefore,  stood 
at  the  door  of  the  state  house  with  a  list  in  his  hand, 
and  admitted  only  those  members  permitted  by  the 
midnight  order.  A  week  later  both  governors  took 
their  oath  of  office.  A  congressional  committee  inves- 
tigated the  dispute.  It  found  that  the  Liberal  candi- 
date was  entitled  to  the  government  de  jure,  but  that 
the  Republican  candidate,  supported  by  the  army,  was 
de  facto  governor,  a  re-election  was  recommended. 
The  recommendation,  very  naturally,  was  not  adopted 
by  the  Washington  executive.  The  Liberal  governor 
and  his  supporters  strongly  protested  against  this  de- 
cision, and  although  submitting  to  federal  authority 
and  deprived  of  power,  retained  their  organization  as 
a  de  jure  government. 

The  campaign  of  1874  was  inaugurated.  In  Sep- 
tember the  registration  offices  were  thrown  open.  The 
usual  multiplication  of  negro  registration  papers  fol- 
lowed, with  the  usual  difficulties  and  impediments 
thrown  in  the  way  of  white  voters.  The  Republican 
governor  had  provided  himself  with  a  local  army  of 
his  own,  a  body  of  metropolitan  police,  mostly  negroes, 
paid  by  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  but  under  his  personal 
command  and  forming  a  part  of  his  militia.  Over 
against  this  force  the  citizens  had  organized  themselves 
into  a  militia  of  their  own,  a  "White  League,"  with 
military  organization,  drill,  and  discipline. 

The  metropolitan  police  were  armed  with  breech- 
loading  rifles  supplied  by  the  United  States,  as  the 
state's  quota  of  arms.  The  White  League,  save  a 


NEW  OBLEANS.  325 

few  fowling-pieces  and  pistols,  was  practically  without 
arms.  The  governor's  attempt  to  prevent  the  White 
League  from  arming  itself  precipitated  the  struggle. 
An  order  was  issued  forbidding  the  citizens  to  bear 
arms  or  keep  them  in  their  houses  ;  the  police  disarmed 
the  citizens  when  arms  were  detected  upon  them,  and 
houses  were  searched.  In  the  first  week  of  Septem- 
ber two  boxes  of  second-hand  rifles  were  seized  by 
the  Metropolitans  as  they  were  being  conveyed  to  a 
gun  store.  The  owners  claimed  their  property,  and 
instituting  legal  proceedings  obtained  a  decision  from 
the  court  in  their  favour.  The  chief  of  police,  ordered 
to  surrender  the  guns,  refused.  Threatened  with  pun- 
ishment for  contempt,  he  produced  a  pardon  signed  in 
advance  by  the  governor.  The  attorney-general  of 
the  state,  by  virtue  of  a  statute  of  the  reconstruction 
legislature,  against  a  crime  defined  as  state  treason, 
arrested  and  held  the  owners  of  the  guns.  Other  guns 
were  seized  in  a  gun  store,  and  another  attempt  was 
made  to  seize  a  shipment  by  rail. 

On  Sunday,  September  13,  a  steamer  was  expected 
with  a  supply  of  arms  for  the  citizens.  On  Saturday 
night  a  large  force  of  police,  armed  with  Springfield 
rifles  and  one  cannon,  was  stationed  at  the  landing  to 
seize  the  arms  when  they  arrived*  Monday  a  mass 
meeting  was  called  at  Clay's  statue  to  protest  against 
the  seizure  of  the  guns  and  assert  the  right  of  the  citi- 
zens to  keep  and  bear  arms.  The  streets  and  side- 
walks were  filled  for  several  squares,  and  there  was  a 
general  suspension  of  business.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  wait  upon  the  governor  and  request  him 
to  abdicate.  He  had  fled  from  the  executive  office  to 
the  custom  house,  a  great  citadel,  garrisoned  at  that 


326  NEW    ORLEANS. 

time  by  United  States  troops.  From  his  retreat  he 
sent  word  declining  to  entertain  any  communication 
with  the  citizens.  Their  leaders  then  advised  them  to 
get  arms  and  return  to  assist  the  White  League  in  exe- 
cuting plans  that  would  be  arranged. 

About  three  o'clock  the  White  League,  mustering 
eight  hundred  men,  formed  on  Poydras  street,  from  St. 
Charles  street  to  the  levee.  A  company  was  stationed 
at  St.  Charles  and  Canal  streets  ;  the  street  crossings  to 
Canal  street  were  barricaded  with  overturned  cars. 
The  Supreme  Court  building  had  been  turned  into  an 
arsenal  for  the  Metropolitans.  They  formed  in  Jack- 
son square,  six  hundred  and  fifty  men  with  six  cannon, 
two  Gatling  guns,  three  Napoleons,  and  a  howitzer.  A 
force  of  six  hundred  of  them  held  the  state  house. 
The  report  arriving  that  the  citizens  were  in  march  to 
the  steamship  to  protect  the  landing  of  their  guns,  five 
hundred  Metropolitans,  under  command  of  the  chief  of 
police,  were  marched,  with  the  cannon,  to  Canal  street 
and  halted  in  front  of  the  custom  house,  and  their 
cannon  pointed  toward  St.  Charles  street.  The  main 
body  of  them,  with  three  cannon,  then  advanced  to  the 
levee  and  took  their  station  there.  Upon  this,  three 
companies  of  the  White  League  moved  out  Poydras 
street  to  the  levee,  and  took  their  position  opposite  the 
Metropolitans.  The  Metropolitans  opened  fire  with 
their  cannon  and  rifles.  The  White  League  attempted 
to  reply  with  their  one  cannon,  but  it  worked  unsatis- 
factorily. Abandoning  it,  two  companies  advanced 
rapidly  down  the  river  bank,  and  under  cover  of  the 
piled-up  freight  fired  upon  the  Metropolitans  at  the 
cannon,  with  such  effect  that  the  negroes  among  them 
wavered  and  retreated.  One  of  their  Gatling  guns  was 


NEW    ORLEANS. 


327 


turned  to  fire  upon  the  levee.  Taking  advantage. of  the 
confusion  among  the  Metropolitans  and  the  lull  in  their 
firing  the  White  League  at  Poydras  street  made  a  dash 
down  the  open  levee  and  charged  the  battery.  The 
Metropolitans  broke  and  fled  behind  the  custom  house, 
abandoning  their  guns  and  leaving  the  chief  of  police 
wounded  on  the  ground. 
A  rally  was  made,  and 
desultory  fighting  con- 
tinued in  the  streets  for 
a  short  while,  but  in 
an  hour  all  was  over. 
When  the  Metropoli- 
tans returned  to  their 
arsenal,  but  sixty  or  sev- 
enty remained  of  the 
army  of  the  morning. 
Fearful  of  the  vengeance 
of  the  citizens,  they 
had  thrown  down 
their  arms,  torn  off 
their  uniforms,  and 
escaped  to  hiding- 
places.  It  was  never 
known  how  many 
were  killed  ;  the  pub- 
lished account  ac- 
knowledges fifteen  killed  and  seventy-five  wounded. 
The  citizens  lost  sixteen. 

The  next  morning  the  state  house  was  in  the  cit- 
izens' hands  ;  two  hours  later  the  whole  Metropoli- 
tan force  surrendered,  the  barricades  were  torn  down, 
the  street  cars  resumed  their  trips.  The  coup  d'etat 


328  NEW  ORLEANS. 

roused  delirious  enthusiasm  throughout  the  state.  The 
Democratic  officials  were  everywhere  installed  in 
office.  The  Democratic  governor  had  now  repaired 
the  flaw  in  his  title.  He  was  de  facto  as  well  as  de  jure 
governor  of  the  state.  As  the  three  thousand  citizens 
marched  by  the  custom  house  to  install  their  govern- 
ment, the  United  States  troops  crowded  the  windows 
and  gave  them  three  hearty  cheers. 

But  the  triumph  was  cut  short.  President  Grant 
commanded  the  insurgents,  as  he  called  them,  to  dis- 
perse in  five  days  ;  troops  were  ordered  to  New  Or- 
leans, gunboats  were  anchored  in  the  river,  their  guns 
aimed  to  sweep  the  streets  of  the  city.  The  military 
commander  received  positive  orders  under  no  circum- 
stances to  recognize  the  citizens'  governor  ;  United 
States  soldiers,  in  default  of  the  Metropolitans,  policed 
the  streets.  The  Republican  governor  issued  from  his 
asylum  of  the  custom  house  and  resumed  his  office. 
The  citizens  submitted  even  cheerfully.  They  had 
proved  their  point ;  the  carpet-bag  government  could 
be  placed  and  kept  in  power  by  the  United  States 
soldiery,  and  in  no  other  way  whatever.  The  citizens 
who  fell  were  honoured  with  the  obsequies  of  patriot 
martyrs.  A  monument  has  since  been  erected  to  their 
memory  on  Liberty  place  where  the  Metropolitans'  can- 
non stood.  On  the  14th  of  September  —  considered 
after  the  8th  of  January  the  proudest  date  of  New 
Orleans  —  their  graves  are  decorated,  and  the  local 
journals  and  orators  never  pass  the  commemoration  by 
without  those  words  of  praise  and  gratitude  which 
would  seem  to  be  the  noblest  and  only  pension  for  true 
patriots. 

The  election  of  1874  passed  quietly.      The  Demo- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  329 

cratic  success  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  The  return- 
ing board,  with  its  usual  manipulations  of  counting  out 
and  counting  in,  gave  the  treasury  to  the  Republicans 
and  allowed  them  a  majority  of  two  in  the  legislature, 
leaving  five  seats  contested.  After  recounting  instances 
of  illegal  action  and  fraud  on  the  part  of  the  returning 
board,  the  Democratic  committee  issued  an  address  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States  :  — 

"  We,  the  down-trodden  people  of  once  free  Louisiana,  now  call 
upon  the  people  of  the  free  states  of  America,  if  you  would  your- 
selves remain  free  and  retain  the  right  of  self-government,  to 
demand  in  tones  that  cannot  be  misunderstood  or  disregarded, 
that  the  shackles  be  stricken  from  Louisiana,  and  that  the  power 
of  the  United  States  army  may  no  longer  be  used  to  keep  a  horde 
of  adventurers  in  power." 

The  congressional  investigating  committee  "  unani- 
mously found  itself  constrained  to  declare  that  the 
action  of  the  returning  board  was  arbitrary,  unjust,  and 
illegal."  Nevertheless  a  few  days  before  the  assem- 
bling of  the  legislature,  General  Grant  put  General 
Sheridan  in  command  of  the  department.  The  legisla- 
ture convened  on  January  4th.  As  our  authority  states, 
the  events  of  that  day  were  memorable  and  unprece- 
dented. "  The  state  house  was  filled  and  surrounded 
by  Metropolitans  and  federal  soldiers,  and  no  one  was 
permitted  to  enter  save  by  the  Republican  governor's 
orders.  The  clerk  of  the  preceding  house  called  the 
assembly  to  order.  Fifty  Democrats  and  fifty-two  Re- 
publicans answered  to  their  names.  A  Democratic 
temporary  chairman  was  nominated  ;  the  clerk  inter- 
posed some  objection,  but  the  Conservative  members 
disregarding  him,  the  motion  was  put  and  declared 
carried  by  a  viva  voce  vote.  The  chairman  sprang  to 


330  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  platform,  pushed  the  clerk  (a  negro)  aside,  and 
seized  the  gavel.  A  justice  then  swore  the  members  in 
en  bloc  ...  a  new  clerk  was  elected,  also  a  sergeant- 
at-arms  ;  then,  from  among  gentlemen  who  had  secured 
admittance,  assistant  sergeants-at-arms  were  appointed. 
.  .  .  The  five  contesting  Democrats  were  admitted 
and  sworn  in.  The  Republicans  now  attempted  to 
adopt  their  opponents'  tactics  .  .  .  but  the  organi- 
zation of  the  house  was  completed  by  the  Demo- 
crats. .  .  .  Pistols  were  drawn,  and  the  disorder  grew 
so  great  that  the  federal  colonel  in  command  was  re- 
quested to  insist  upon  order.  This  he  did.  .  .  .  The 
house  proceeded  with  the  election  of  minor  offices.  .  .  . 
At  length  the  federal  colonel  received  word  from  the 
Republican,  governor,  which  his  general  orders  bound 
him  to  obey,  to  remove  the  five  members  sworn  in  but 
not  returned  by  the  board.  The  speaker  refusing  to 
point  them  out,  a  Republican  member  did  so,  and  in 
spite  of  protests  they  were  forcibly  removed  by  federal 
soldiers.  The  Democratic  speaker  then  left  the  house, 
at  the  head  of  the  Conservative  members;  the  Republi- 
cans remaining,  organized  to  suit  themselves." 

General  Sheridan  reported  the  matter,  as  his  war 
reputation  warranted  that  he  should.  He  suggested 
that  Congress  or  the  President  should  declare  the  lead- 
ers of  the  White  League  banditti,  so  that  he  could 
try  them  by  military  commission.  A  public  protest  of 
indignation  arose  from  the  city.  All  the  exchanges 
and  the  Northern  and  Western  merchants  and  residents 
of  the  city  passed  resolutions  denying  the  truth  of  the 
federal  general's  report,  and,  in  an  appeal  to  the  nation, 
a  number  of  New  Orleans  clergymen  condemned  it  as 
"unmerited,  unfounded,  and  erroneous." 


NEW  ORLEANS.  331 

A  special  congressional  committee  investigated  the 
affair.  It  effected  a  "  readjustment  "  by  which  the  state 
was  given  to  the  Republican  governor,  but  the  decision 
of  the  returning  board  was  reversed  by  seating  twelve 
of  the  contestants  excluded  by  it. 

The  last  act  of  the  reconstruction  drama  was  the 
election  of  1876,  when  the  returning  boards  of  three 
Southern  states  threw  out  enough  Democratic  votes  to 
give  the  states  to  the  Republican  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent ;  but  in  Louisiana  the  state  was,  as  it  was  called, 
returned  to  the  Louisianians,  and  they,  for  the  first 
time  since  1862,  entered  into  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

President  Hayes  withdrawing  the  federal  support, 
the  carpet-bag  government  collapsed. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 


THE   CONVENT   OF   THE   HOLY   FAMILY. 

TT  epitomizes  a  great  section  of  the  city's  past,  this 
-*-  Convent  of  the  Holy  Family.  And  in  no  other  place 
of  the  city  do  the  heart  and  the  mind  seem  to  be  work- 
ing together  so  reverently  to  spell  from  its  past  indica- 
tions for  its  future.  And,  it  would  seem,  in  no  other 
place  to  the  historian,  sociologist,  or  may  we  simply 
say  humanitarian,  does  the  future  appear,  not  so  bright, 
not  so  purely  hopeful,  but  so  providentially  directed  as 
in  this  institution. 

It  was  on  New  Year's  day,  1 888,  that  the  news  spread 
through  the  community  that  the  Mother  Superior  of 
the  Coloured  Convent  of  the  Holy  Family  was  dead. 
It  was  an  occasion  for  the  inquisitive  to  satisfy  curios- 
ity, as  well  as  for  the  friends  and  well-wishers  of  the 

332 


NEW  ORLEANS.  333 

convent  to  pay  the  respect  of  a  call ;  for  those  of  the 
Catholic  faith  to  do  more. 

The  body  had  not  yet  been  transported  to  the  chapel. 
She  lay  on  the  cot  on  which  she  had  died  a  few  hours 
before.  Can  one  ever  forget  the  sight  ?  So  small,  so 
shrunken,  so  withered,  such  a  mummy  of  a  human 
figure,  with  a  face,  under  the  glitter  of  the  burning 
candles,  so  yellow,  wrinkled,  sunken,  so  devitalized,  so 
dehumanized,  of  all  the  elements  of  earthly  passions. 
All  around  the  bed  were  kneeling  figures  from  the 
street,  from  the  market,  servants,  beggars,  sisters,  or- 
phans, and  white  ladies,  the  latter  predominating,  not 
by  their  number  but  by  the  elegance  and  distinction 
they  cast  over  the  assemblage.  It  was  the  time  and  the 
opportunity  of  all  others  to  ask  who  was  she,  this 
Mother  Juliette  —  and  what  is  this  Convent  of  the 
Holy  Family  ? 

During  the  ancien  regime  in  Louisiana,  the  pure- 
blooded  African  was  never  called  coloured,  but  always 
negro.  The  gens  de  couleur,  coloured  people,  were  a 
class  apart,  separated  from  and  superior  to  the  negroes, 
ennobled,  were  it  by  only  one  drop  of  white  blood  in 
their  veins.  The  caste  seems  to  have  existed  from 
the  first  introduction  of  slaves.  To  the  whites,  all 
Africans  who  were  not  of  pure  blood  were  gens 
de  couleur.  Among  themselves,  however,  there  were 
jealous  and  fiercely  guarded  distinctions  ;  mulattoes, 
quadroons,  octoroons,  griffes,  each  term  meaning  one 
more  generation's  elevation,  one  degree's  further  trans- 
figuration in  the  standard  of  racial  perfection ;  white 
blood.  It  was  not  a  day  of  advanced  science  or  moral- 
ity in  any  part  of  the  European  world,  and  it  must  be 
remembered  that  New  Orleans  was,  until  recent  years, 


334 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


a  part  of  the  European  world,  not  of  the  American. 
Crudely  put,  to  the  black  Christian,  God  was  a  white 
man,  the  devil  black ;  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  Saviour,  the 
saints  and  angels,  all  belonged  to  the  race  of  the  mas- 
ter and  mistress  ;  white,  divinized ;  black,  diabolized. 
Is  it  necessary  to  follow,  except  in  imagination,  the  infi- 
nite hope,  the  infinite 
struggle,  contained  in 
the  inference  ? 

From  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  gens  de 
couleur  in  the  colony, 
dates  the  class,  gens  de 
couleur  libres.  By  the 
census  of  1788,  their 
number  amounted  to 
fifteen  hundred,  and  in 
the  same  year  their 
aspirations  began  to  be 
noticed.  An  excessive 
attention  to  dress,  on 
the  part  of  a  mulattress 
or  quadroon,  was  con- 
sidered, according  to 

an  ordinance  of  Governor  Miro,  "  an  evidence  of  mis- 
conduct, which  made  her  liable  to  punishment."  A 
woman  of  that  class  was  forbidden  to  wear  jewels  and 
plumes,  and  ordered  to  cover  her  hair  with  a  kerchief, 
called  by  the  Creoles  a  "tignoii."  They  were  also  for- 
bidden to  have  nightly  assemblies. 

These  gens  de  couleur  represent  the  first  crest  of  the 
waves  as  the  tide  bears  them  in  to  curl  rippling  over 
the  beach  at  our  feet ;  but  the  eye  involuntarily  looks 


NEW  ORLEANS.  335 

further  out,  to  the  expanse  beyond,  the  great  black, 
mysterious  mass,  the  race,  out  of  which  the  tide  comes 
to  us.  It  is  at  first  sight  but  a  black,  mysterious  mass 
of  brute  labour,  brought  in  shiploads,  by  brute  capital, 
so  to  speak ;  the  huddling,  reeking,  diseased,  desperate 
catchings  of  a  naked  black  humanity,  without  a  fila- 
ment of  the  clothing,  language,  or  religion  of  the  white 
humanity  above  them.  Out  of  the  inchoate  blackness 
individual  experience  alone  could  make  assortment  and 
classification  ;  features,  expression,  size,  and  the  doctor's 
certificate  were  the  quotable  values  at  first,  until  Ban- 
baras,  Congoes,  and  smaller  tribes  became  known,  and 
figured  on  change.  The  damaged  lots,  the  crippled  and 
infirm,  Avere  sold  for  a  trifle,  and  these  bargains  were 
eagerly  seized  upon  by  the  poorer  classes,  so  that  a  poor 
man's  slave  was  not  the  mere  term  of  social  reproach 
which  it  is  supposed  to  be. 

The  negroes  made  their  own  segregations  on  the 
plantations.  They  are  described  as  singing  in  unison 
in  the  fields ;  incoherent,  unintelligible  words,  in  one 
recurring,  monotonous,  short  strain  of  harmony,  eddy- 
ing around  a  minor  chord,  as  they  may  in  fact  be  heard 
in  any  field  or  street  gang  to-day.  In  the  winter,  when 
they  were  clad  in  their  long  capots  of  blanket,  with 
the  hood  drawn  over  the  head,  they  looked  like  a 
monastery  of  monks  in  the  field ;  their  shoes,  called 
"  quantiers,"  were  pieces  of  raw-hide,  cut  so  as  to  lace 
comfortably  over  foot  and  ankle. 

These  were  the  first  cargoes,  the  African  bruts,  as 
they  were  called,  going  through  their  first  rudiments  of 
religion,  language,  and  civilized  training.  Le  Page  du 
Pratz  gives  interesting  information  as  to  the  proper 
management  of  them  in  this  stage.  The  whites'  feai 


336 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


of  insurrection,  prevented  it ;  every  plantation  was  a 
camp ;  the  discipline  maintained  was  military,  and 
military  as  it  was  understood  and  practised  at  that 
day.  The  one  serious  uprising  of  slaves  in  the  history 
of  the  state  took  place  when  this  patriarchal,  despotic 
system  had  given  place  to  the  easy-going  American 
regime.  The  evolution  of  these  barbarians  into  skilled 


labourers  and  Christian  men  and  women  was  miracu- 
lously rapid ;  a  generation  sufficing  to  overleap  centu- 
ries of  normal  development,  to  differentiate  succeeding 
brut  arrivals  in  the  colony  from  one  another  by  de- 
grees of  superiority  and  progress,  mentally  and  physi- 
cally, which  can  only  be  tabulated  by  using,  as  the 
negroes  themselves  did,  shades  of  colour  as  expres- 
sions of  measurement.  The  minute  paternalism  of  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  337 

French  and  Spanish  domestic  systems  was  peculiarly 
favourable  to  such  development ;  the  harmonious 
results  from  it  can  still  be  traced  in  the  families  of 
Spanish  and  French  coloured  Creoles ;  they  themselves 
base  aristocratic  pretensions  upon  their  French  and 
Spanish  antecedents,  and  at  the  time  were  the  first  to 
despise  and  contemn  the  laxer  regime  of  the  American 
domestic  service. 

One  of  their  field  songs  which  they  sang  in  the  early 
part  of  the  century  commemorates  the  feeling.  D'Ar- 
taguette  was  a  royal  comptroller  and  commandant  at 
Mobile  in  the  time  of  Bienville :  — 

"  Di  temps  Missie  d'Artaguette, 

He !     Ho  !     He ! 
C'etait,  c'etait  bon  temps  ! 
Ye  te  menin  monde  a  la  baguette 

He  !     Ho  !     He  ! 
Pas  Negres,  pas  rubans, 

Pas  diamants 
Pour  dochans, 

He  !     Ho  !     He !  " 

("  In  the  time  of  Monsieur  d'Artaguette,  it  was,  it  was  a  good 
time!  The  world  was  led  with  a  stick.  No  negroes,  no  ribbons, 
no  diamonds  for  \_doclians  —  des  gens']  common  people.") 

They  improvised  their  songs  as  they  went  along,  as 
children  do;  picking  up  any  little  circumstance  in  the 
life  about  them,  and  setting  it  afloat  on  the  rill  of  music 
that  seemed  to  be  ever  running  through  the  virgin 
forest  of  their  brain.  And  their  language,  known  only 
through  the  ear,  became  itself  a  fluent  doggerel  of  har- 
mony ;  the  soft  French  and  Spanish  words,  with  the 
consonants  filtered  out  by  the  thick,  moist,  sensitive  lips, 
falling  in  vov/el  cadences,  link  upon  link,  hour  after 


338  NEW   ORLEANS. 

hour,  through  the  longest  day's  hardest  task.  Their 
songs,  their  music,  their  patois,  still  remain  to  soothe 
children  to  sleep ;  to  lighten  the  burdensome  hour,  and 
to  rill  many  a  lazy  one ;  and  how  little  could  it  all  be 
spared  from  the  life  of  the  place !  And  in  fact,  how 
much  of  the  noted  events  of  the  old  life  of  the  place  do 
the  songs  preserve  for  us ;  Master  Cayetane,  who  came 
from  la  Havane  to  Congo  square  with  a  circus  (a 
dozen  stanzas  of  wonders) ;  the  battle  of  New  Orleans ; 
the  fine  balls,  the  names  of  masters  and  mistresses  and 
police  officers;  and  always  the  biting  sarcasms  about 
the  free  quadroons  and  the  mulattoes  whom  they  called 
"mules";  the  rogueries  of  this  scamp,  the  airs  and 
graces  of  that  one,  and  a  whole  repertoire  of  garbled 
versions  of  love  and  drinking-songs  picked  up  from  the 
masters'  table,  as  now  they  pick  up  politics  and  busi- 
ness gossip.  Under  the  ancien  regime,  it  was  a  fa- 
vourite after-dinner  entertainment  to  have  the  slaves 
come  in  and  sing,  rewarding  them  with  glasses  of  wine 
and  silver  pieces.  Louis  Philippe  (that  ever  glorious 
and  appropriate  Louisiana  memory)  was  thus  enter- 
tained. It  seems  almost  impossible  for  a  true  child  of 
New  Orleans  to  speak  without  emotion  of  the  Creole 
songs,  they  run  such  a  gamut  of  local  sentiment  and 
love,  from  the  past  to  the  present.  And  as  for  the  Creole 
music,  it  is  quite  permissible  to  say  it  in  New  Orleans, 
that  no  one  has  ever  known  the  full  poetry  and  inspira- 
tion of  the  dance  who  has  not  danced  to  the  original 
music  of  a  Macarty  or  a  Basile  Bares.  And  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  own  the  conviction,  whether  it  can  be  main- 
tained or  not,  with  reason,  that  America  will  one  day 
do  homage  for  music  of  a  fine  and  original  type,  to 
some  representative  of  Louisiana's  coloured  population. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  339 

No  relation  of  the  city  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  cen- 
tury is  complete  without  Elizabeth,  or  "  Zabet  Philo- 
sophe,"  who  was  as  much  a  part  of  the  vieux  carr6 
as  the  Cabildo  was.  She  always  maintained  her  age 
at  the  current  standard  of  a  hundred.  She  was  born  in 
the  house  of  the  widow  of  an  officer  who  had  served 
under  Bienville ;  and,  a  pet  of  her  mistress,  had  been 
freed  by  will,  and  since  then  had  made  her  living  as 
hairdresser  to  the  aristocratic  ladies  in  the  city,  her 
last  patron  being  Madame  Laussat.  No  Frenchman  in 
the  community  suffered  more  than  she  did  when  the 
French  flag  was  lowered  to  the  American.  She  wept 
bitterly.  Being  told  that  the  new  government  had  pro- 
claimed that  all  white  men  were  free  and  equal,  she 
ceased  to  be  a  menial,  and  took  to  selling  pralines  on 
the  steps  of  the  cathedral,  or  under  the  porch  of  the 
Cabildo,  where  she  could  see  her  friends,  the  judges 
and  lawyers,  as  they  passed  on  their  way  to  court ;  and 
they  seldom  failed  to  loiter  around  her  tray  to  provoke 
from  her  the  shrewd  comments,  piquante  stories  and 
picturesque  tales  which  won  her  the  surname  of  Philo- 
sophe.  She  could  neither  read  nor  write,  but  she  spoke 
pure,  elegant  French,  as  the  court  of  the  Grand  Mo- 
narque  did,  by  ear,  and  to  her  blue-blooded  patrons  she 
used  her  best  language  and  all  the  high-flown  courtesy 
of  the  old  regime,  and  was  profuse  in  well-set  phrases 
of  thanks  when  their  silver  pieces  fell  in  her  tray ;  com- 
mon customers  she  treated  with  careless  indifference. 
When  court  and  cathedral  closed,  she  would  take  up 
her  place  in  the  Place  d'Armes,  and  pass  the  evening 
promenaders  in  review,  recalling  aloud  this  about  their 
parents  and  grandparents,  reminding  them  of  one  story 
and  another,  complimenting  the  ladies  and  petting  the 


340  NEW  ORLEANS. 

children  of  her  old  people,  as  she  called  them.  General 
Jackson,  in  1815,  shook  hands  with  her  and  gave  her  a 
dollar.  She  was  very  pious  at  that  time,  but  tradition 
hinted  that  she  had  not  been  pre-eminently  so  when 
she  was  young ;  to  be  reminded  of  this,  however,  only 
called  a  good-natured  laugh  to  her  face.  "Why  not? 
Pleasure  and  balls  when  one  is  young,  church  and 
prayer  when  one  is  old;  that's  my  philosophy." 

The  great  holiday  place  for  the  slaves  in  those  days 
was  Congo  square,  then  well  outside  the  city  limits. 
People  are  yet  living  who  remember  what  a  gala  day 
Sunday  was  to  the  negroes,  and  with  what  keen  antici- 
pations they  looked  forward  to  it.  On  a  bright  after- 
noon they  would  gather  in  their  gay,  picturesque  finery, 
by  hundreds,  even  thousands,  under  the  shade  of  the 
sycamores,  to  dance  the  Bamboula  or  the  Calinda;  the 
music  of  their  Creole  songs  tuned  by  the  beating  of 
the  tam-tam.  "  Dansez  Calinda!  Badoum!  Badoum!  " 
the  children,  dancing  too  on  the  outskirts,  adding  their 
screams  and  romping  to  the  chorus  and  movement. 
A  bazaar  of  refreshments  filled  the  sidewalks  around ; 
lemonade,  ginger  beer,  pies,  and  the  ginger  cakes  called 
"  estomac  mulattre,"  set  out  on  deal  tables,  screened 
with  cotton  awnings,  whose  variegated  streamers  danced 
also  in  the  breeze.  White  people  would  promenade  by 
to  look  at  the  scene,  and  the  young  gentlemen  from  the 
College  of  Orleans,  on  their  way  to  the  theatre,  always 
stopped  a  moment  to  see  the  negroes  dance  "Congo." 
At  nightfall  the  frolic  ceased,  the  dispersed  revellers 
singing  on  their  way  home  to  another  week  of  slavery 
and  labour  :  "  Bonsoir,  clause*,  Soleil,  couch6 !  " 

A  word,  "  Voudou,"  changes  the  gay,  careless  Sunday 
scene  into  its  diabolic  counterpart,  a  witches'  sabbat,  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  341 

evening  to  midnight,  the  open  square  to  hidden  obscure 
corners,  the  dancers  to  bacchanals;  the  gay,  frank 
music  to  a  weird  chanting,  subtly  imitative  of  the 
yearning  sighing  of  the  wind  that  precedes  the  tropical 
storm ;  rising  and  swelling  to  the  full  explosion  of  the 
tempest.  Among  the  African  slaves,  under  any  appli- 
cations or  assumptions  of  Christianity,  there  was  always 
Voudou  superstition,  lying  dormant,  with  their  past, 
but  in  the  early  days  of  slavery  there  was  little  chance 
or  opportunity  to  practise  the  rites  of  Voudouism,  as 
they  were  called.  Their  formal  introduction  in  the  city 
can  be  plausibly  traced  to  the  immigrant  St.  Domingo 
slaves.  The  accessories  and  ceremonies  followed  the 
description  given  of  Voudou  meetings  in  the  West 
Indian  Islands.  There  was  the  same  secrecy  of  place 
and  meeting,  the  altar,  serpent,  and  the  official  king 
and  queen;  the  latter  with  much  profusion  of  red  in  her 
dress,  the  oath  to  the  serpent;  a  string  of  barbarous 
epithets  and  penalties,  the  suppliants  to  the  serpent 
coming  up,  one  by  one,  with  their  prayers,  always  and 
ever  for  love  or  revenge,  the  king  with  his  hand  on  the 
serpent,  receiving  from  it  the  trembling  of  the  body 
which  he  communicates  to  the  queen,  and  which  she 
passes  on  to  all  in  the  room ;  the  trembling  increasing 
to  movement ;  the  movement,  to  contortions  of  the  body, 
convulsions,  frenzy,  ecstacies,  the  queen  ever  leading ; 
the  low  humming  song  rising  louder  and  louder ;  the 
dancers  whirling  around,  faster  and  faster,  screaming, 
waving  their  red  handkerchiefs,  tearing  off  their  gar- 
ments, biting  their  flesh,  falling  down  delirious,  ex- 
hausted, pell  mell,  blind,  inebriated,  in  the  hot  dense 
darkness;  —  when  the  sheer  lassitude  of  consciousness 
returns  with  daylight,  retaining  but  one  thing  firmly 


342  NEW  ORLEANS. 

fixed  in  their  minds,  the  date  of  the  next  meeting.  An 
attempt  of  recent  years  to  revive  the  annual  Voudou 
celebrations,  on  St.  John's  Eve,  with  nothing  of  the  old 
rites  preserved  but  the  dance,  has  been  rigidly  sup- 
pressed by  the  police  authorities.  The  last  Voudou 
queen,  dead  within  the  decade,  was  still  an  object  of 
popular  terror  and  superstition,  and  there  are  yet 
secret  dispensers  in  the  city,  of  Voudou  magic;  the 
black  and  white  pepper,  chicken  feathers  and  minute 
bone  combinations  that  still  are  used  to  charm  love  or 
send  sure  revenge  of  death ;  and  there  is  still  more 
belief  in  Voudouism  among  ignorant  blacks  and  whites 
than  one  likes  to  confess. 

Besides  the  white  and  slave  immigrations  from  the 
West  Indian  Islands,  there  was  a  large  influx  of  free 
gens  de  couleur  into  the  city,  a  class  of  population 
whose  increase  by  immigration  had  been  sternly  legis- 
lated against.  Flying,  however,  with  the  whites  from 
massacre  and  ruin,  humanitarian  sentiments  induced 
the  authorities  to  open  the  city  gates  to  them,  and  they 
entered  by  thousands.  Like  the  white  £migr£s,  they 
brought  in  the  customs  and  manners  of  a  softer  climate, 
a  more  luxurious  society,  and  a  different  civilization. 
In  comparison  with  the  free  coloured  people  of  New 
Orleans,  they  represented  a  distinct  variety,  a  variety 
which  their  numbers  made  important,  and  for  a  time 
decisive  in  its  influence  on  the  home  of  their  adoption. 

The  very  thought  of  Miro's  regulations  seems  absurd, 
as  we  hear  of  them  in  their  boxes  at  the  Orleans  thea- 
tre, rivalling  the  white  ladies  in  the  tier  below  them, 
with  their  diamonds,  Parisian  head-dresses,  and  elegant 
toilets ;  and  of  the  tropical  splendour  with  which  they 
shone  at  their  weekly  balls.  These  were  the  celebrated 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


343 


quadroon  balls,  that  divided  the  nights  of  the  week 
with  the  balls  given  to  the  white  ladies,  where  none 
but  white  men  were  allowed,  and  where  strange  gentle- 
men were  always  taken,  as  to  the  amusement  par  excel- 
lence in  the  city.  Robin,  in  1804,  remarked  slily,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  the  gentlemen  of  New  Orleans  society 
were  fond  of  seeking  distractions  elsewhere  than  in 


their  own  sphere,  so  that  the  brilliancy  of  their  balls 
was  much  diminished  by  the  number  of  ladies  con- 
demned to  be  wall-flowers.  And  the  travellers  after 
him,  with  the  licensed  indiscretion  of  travellers,  write 
admiringly  of  the  piquante  fascinations  of  these  enter- 
tainments. The  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar  confesses  him- 
self not  indifferent  to  the  tempting  contrast  offered  by 


344  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  two  balls  only  a  few  blocks  apart,  and  he  constantly 
notes  in  his  Journal  how  he,  in  the  interests  of  science 
or  amusement,  flitted  between  them.  He  writes,  that  the 
quadroon  women  who  frequented  these  balls  appeared 
almost  white  and  that  from  their  skins  no  one  would 
detect  their  origin  ;  they  dressed  well  and  gracefully, 
conducted  themselves  with  perfect  propriety  and  mod- 
esty, and  were  all  the  time  under  the  eyes  of  their 
mothers.  Some  of  them  possessed  handsome  fortunes, 
but  their  position  in  the  community  was  most  humil- 
iating. They  regarded  negroes  and  mulattoes  with 
unmixed  contempt.  Of  a  quadroon  masquerade  at  the 
Theatre  St.  Philippe,  that  he  left  a  white  soiree  to 
visit,  the  Duke  says:  "  Several  of  them  "  (the  quadroon 
ladies)  "addressed  me  and  coquetted  with  me  in  the 
most  subtle  and  amusing  manner."  To  an  English 
traveller,  the  quadroon  women  were  "the  most  beautiful 
he  had  ever  seen,  resembling  the  higher  order  of  women 
among  the  high  class  Hindoos :  lovely  countenances, 
full,  dark,  liquid  eyes,  lips  of  coral,  teeth  of  pearl,  sylph- 
like  features,  and  such  beautifully  rounded  limbs  and 
exquisite  gait  and  manners  that  they  might  furnish 
models  for  a  Venus  or  a  Hebe."  Those  brilliant  balls, 
in  their  way,  are  as  incredible  now  as  the  slave  marts 
and  the  Voudou  dances ;  which,  in  their  way,  they  seem 
subtly,  indissolubly  connected  with. 

The  free  coloured  men,  per  contra,  were  retiring, 
modest,  and  industrious.  The  following  notes  are  taken 
from  an  unpublished  manuscript  of  Charles  Gayarre  on 
the  subject:  — 

"  By  1830,  some  of  these  gens  de  couleur  had  arrived  at  such  a 
degree  of  wealth  as  to  own  cotton  and  sugar  plantations  with 
numerous  slaves.  They  educated  their  children,  as  they  had  been 


NEW  ORLEANS.  345 

educated,  in  France.  Those  who  chose  tc  remain  there,  attained, 
many  of  them,  distinction  in  scientific  and  literary  circles.  In 
New  Orleans  they  became  musicians,  merchants,  and  money  and 
real  estate  brokers.  The  humbler  classes  were  mechanics  ;  they 
monopolized  the  trade  of  shoemakers,  a  trade  for  which,  even  to 
this  day,  they  have  a  special  vocation  ;  they  were  barbers,  tailors, 
carpenters,  upholsterers.  They  were  notably  successful  hunters 
and  supplied  the  city  with  game.  As  tailors,  they  were  almost 
exclusively  patronized  by  the  elite,  so  much  so  that  the  Legoasters', 
the  Dumas',  the  Clovis',  the  Lacroix',  acquired  individually  fort- 
unes of  several  hundred  thousands  of  dollars.  This  class  was  most 
respectable ;  they  generally  married  women  of  their  own  status, 
and  led  lives  quiet,  dignified  and  worthy,  in  homes  of  ease  and 
comfort.  A  few  who  had  reached  a  competency  sufficient  for  it, 
attempted  to  settle  in  France,  where  there  was  no  prejudice 
against  their  origin ;  but  in  more  than  one  case  the  experiment 
was  not  satisfactory,  and  they  returned  to  their  former  homes  in 
Louisiana.  When  astonishment  was  expressed,  they  would  reply, 
with  a  smile :  '  It  is  hard  for  one  who  has  once  tasted  the  Missis- 
sippi to  keep  away  from  it.' 

"In  fact,  the  quadroons  of  Louisiana  have  always  shown  a 
strong  local  attachment,  although  in  the  state  they  were  subjected 
to  grievances,  which  seemed  to  them  unjust,  if  not  cruel.  It  is 
true,  they  possessed  many  of  the  civil  and  legal  rights  enjoyed  by 
the  whites,  as  to  the  protection  of  person  and  property;  but  they 
were  disqualified  from  political  rights  and  social  equality.  But 
...  it  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  in  their  contact  with  white 
men,  they  did  not  assume  that  creeping  posture  of  debasement  — 
nor  did  the  whites  expect  it  —  which  has  more  or  less  been  forced 
upon  them  in  fiction.  In  fact,  their  handsome,  good-natured  faces 
seem  almost  incapable  of  despair.  It  is  true  the  whites  were  supe- 
rior to  them,  but  they,  in  their  turn,  were  superior,  and  infinitely 
superior,  to  the  blacks,  and  had  as  much  objection  to  associating 
with  the  blacks  on  terms  of  equality  as  any  white  man  could  have 
to  associating  with  them.  At  the  Orleans  theatre  they  attended 
their  mothers,  wives,  and  sisters  in  the  second  tier,  reserved 
exclusively  for  them*  and  where  no  white  person  of  either  sex 
would  have  been  permitted  to  intrude.  But  they  were  not  ad- 
mitted to  the  quadroon  balls,  and  when  white  gentlemen  visited 


NEW  ORLEANS. 

their  families  it  was  the  accepted  etiquette  for  them  never  to  be 
present. 

"Nevertheless  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  the  amenities 
were  not  observed  when  the  men  of  the  races  met,  for  business 
or  otherwise  ;  many  anecdotes  are  told  to  illustrate  this.  The 
wealthy  owner  of  a  large  sugar  plantation  lived  in  a  parish  where 
resided  also  a  rich,  highly  educated  sugar  planter  of  mixed 
blood,  a  man  who  had  a  reputation  in  his  day  for  his  rare  and 
extensive  library.  Both  planters  met  on  a  steamboat.  When  the 
hour  for  dinner  struck,  the  white  gentleman  observed  a  small 
table  set  aside,  at  which  his  companion  quietly  took  his  place. 
Moved  by  this  voluntary  exhibition  of  humble  acquiescence  in 
the  exigencies  of  his  social  position,  the  white  gentleman,  escorted 
by  a  friend,  went  over  to  the  small  table  and  addressed  the  soli- 
tary guest :  '  We  desire  you  to  dine  with  us.'  '  I  am  very 
grateful  for  your  kindness,  gentlemen,'  was  the  reply,  '  and  I 
would  cheerfully  accept  your  invitation,  but  my  presence  at  your 
table,  if  acceptable  to  you,  might  be  displeasing  to  others.  There- 
fore, permit  me  to  remain  where  I  am.' 

"  Another  citizen,  a  Creole,  and  one  of  the  finest  representatives 
of  the  old  population,  occupying  the  highest  social  position,  was 
once  travelling  in  the  country.  His  horses  appearing  tired,  and  he 
himself  feeling  the  need  of  refreshment,  he  began  to  look  around 
for  some  place  to  stop.  He  was  just  in  front  of  a  very  fine,  large 
plantation  belonging  to  a  man  of  colour,  whom  he  knew  very  well, 
a  polished,  educated  man,  who  made  frequent  visits  to  Paris.  He 
drove  unhesitatingly  to  the  house,  and,  alighting,  said :  '  I  have 
come  to  tax  your  hospitality.'  '  Never  shall  a  tax  be  paid  more 
willingly,'  was  the  prompt  reply.  '  I  hope  I  am  not  too  late  for 
dinner.'  '  For  you,  sir,  it  is  never  too  late  at  my  house  for  any- 
thing that  you  may  desire.'  A  command  was  given ;  cook  and 
butler  made  their  preparations,  and  dinner  was  announced.  The 
guest  noticed  but  one  seat  and  one  plate  at  the  table.  He 
exclaimed:  'What!  Am  I  to  dine  alone?'  'I  regret,  sir,  that 
I  cannot  join  you,  but  I  have  already  dined.'  'My  friend,' 
answered  his  guest,  with  a  good-natured  smile  on  his  lips,  'Per- 
mit me  on  this  occasion  to  doubt  your  wovd,  and  to  assure  you 
that  I  shall  order  my  carriage  immediately  and  leave,  without 
touching  a  mouthful  of  this  appetizing  menu,  unless  you  share  it 


NEW  ORLEANS.  347 

with  me.'     The  host  was  too  much  of  a  Chesterfield  not  to  dine 
a  second  time,  if  courtesy  or  a  guest  required. 

"  The  free  quadroon  women  of  middle  age  were  generally  in 
easy  circumstances,  and  comfortable  in  their  mode  of  living. 
They  owned  slaves,  skilful  hairdressers,  fine  washerwomen, 
accomplished  seamstresses,  who  brought  them  in  a  handsome 
revenue.  Expert  themselves  at  all  kinds  of  needle-work,  and  not 
deficient  in  taste,  some  of  them  rose  to  the  importance  of  modistes, 
and  fashioned  the  dresses  of  the  elegantes  among  the  white  ladies. 
Many  of  them  made  a  specialty  of  making  the  fine  linen  shirts 
worn  at  that  day  by  gentlemen  and  were  paid  two  dollars  and 
a  half  apiece  for  them,  at  which  rate  of  profit  a  quadroon  woman 
could  always  earn  an  honest,  comfortable  living.  Besides,  they 
monopolized  the  renting,  at  high  prices,  of  furnished  rooms  to 
white  gentlemen.  This  monopoly  was  easily  obtained,  for  it  was 
difficult  to  equal  them  in  attention  to  their  tenants,  and  the  tenants 
indeed  would  have  been  hard  to  please  had  they  not  been  satisfied. 
These  rooms,  with  their  large  post  bedsteads,  immaculate  linen, 
snowy  mosquito  bars,  were  models  of  cleanliness  and  comfort.  In 
the  morning  the  nicest  cup  of  hot  coffee  was  brought  to  the  bed- 
side ;  in  the  evening,  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  there  stood  the  never 
failing  tub  of  fresh  water  with  sweet-smelling  towels.  As  land- 
ladies they  were  both  menials  and  friends,  and  always  affable  and 
anxious  to  please.  A  cross  one  would  have  been  a  phenomenon. 
If  their  tenants  fell  ill,  the  old  quadroons  and,  under  their  direc- 
tion, the  young  ones,  were  the  best  and  kindest  of  nurses.  Many 
of  them,  particularly  those  who  came  from  St.  Domingo,  were 
expert  in  the  treatment  of  yellow  fever.  Their  honesty  was  pro- 
verbial." 

The  desire  of  distinction,  to  rise  from  a  lower  level 
to  social  equality  with  a  superior  race,  was  implanted 
in  the  heart  of  the  quadroon,  as  in  that  of  all  women. 
Hence  an  aversion  on  their  part  to  marrying  men  of 
their  own  colour,  and  hence  their  relaxation  and  devia- 
tion from,  if  not  their  complete  denial  of,  the  code  of 
morality  accepted  by  white  women,  and  their  consequent 
adoption  of  a  separate  standard  of  morals  for  them- 


348  NEW  ORLEANS. 

selves,  and  the  forcing  it  upon  the  community  and  upon 
the  men  of  their  own  colour.  Assuming  as  a  merit 
and  a  distinction  what  is  universally  considered  in  the 
civilized  world  a  shame  and  disgrace  by  their  sex,  their 
training  of  their  daughters  had  but  one  end  in  view. 
Unscrupulous  and  pitiless,  by  nature  or  circumstance, 
as  one  chooses  to  view  it,  and  secretly  still  claiming 
the  racial  license  of  Africa,  they  were,  in  regard  to 
family  purity,  domestic  peace,  and  household  dignity, 
the  most  insidious  and  the  deadliest  foes  a  community 
ever  possessed.  Many  of  the  quadroon  belles,  however, 
attained  honourable  marriage,  and,  removing  to  France, 
obtained  full  social  recognition  for  themselves  and  their 
children. 

The  great  ambition  of  the  unmarried  quadroon 
mothers  was  to  have  their  children  pass  for  whites, 
and  so  get  access  to  the  privileged  class.  To  reach 
this  end,  there  was  nothing  they  would  not  attempt, 
no  sacrifice  they  would  not  make.  To  protect  society 
against  one  of  their  means,  a  law  was  passed  making  it 
it  penal  offence  for  a  public  officer  in  the  discharge  of 
his  functions,  when  writing  down  the  name  of  any 
coloured  free  person,  to  fail  to  add  the  qualification 
"homme"  or  ufemme  de  couleur  libre."  But  the  offi- 
cers of  the  law  could  be  bribed,  even  the  records  of 
baptism  tampered  with ;  and  the  qualification  once 
dropped,  acted  inversely,  as  a  patent  of  pure  blood. 

It  was  in  1842,  in  the  very  heyday  of  the  brilliant, 
unwholesome  notoriety  of  the  quadroon  women,  that 
the  congregation  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Family 
was  founded.  Three  young  women  of  colour,  descend- 
ants of  three  of  the  oldest  and  most  respectable  free 
coloured  families  in  the  city,  came  together  resolved  to 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


349 


devote  their  lives,  education,  and  wealth  to  the  cause  of 
religion  and  charity  among  their  own  people ;  to  suc- 
cour the  helpless  and  old,  to  befriend  friendless  young 
coloured  girls,  to  teach  the  catechism  to  the  young,  and 
prepare  young  and  old  for  the  sacrament  of  commun- 
ion. They  were  afterwards  joined  by  another  young 
woman,  like  themselves  of  good  family,  education,  and 
means.  Their  vocation,  under  the  circumstances, 
seems  sublime ;  their  name  a  divine  inspiration. 


Mother  Juliette  was  the  oldest  of  the  four  young 
women.  Of  their  history  and  personality,  beyond  their 
having  possessed,  in  a  marked  degree,  the  beauty  of 
their  class,  little  is  known.  They  concealed  their  past, 
with  their  features,  under  the  veil  of  their  order  But 
it  would  seem  that,  in  their  case,  the  imagination  is  a 
safe  means  of  approach  to  the  story  of  their  lives.  And 
the  imagination  prompted,  it  may  be,  by  the  impulsive 
sentiment  of  sympathy ;  picturing  them  making  proof 


350  NEW  ORLEANS. 

of  their  faith  in  their  environment  of  race,  .time,  and 
circumstance,  sees  them  in  the  similitude  of  those  bar- 
barian virgins  of  primeval  Christianity  who  made  proof 
of  their  faith  in  the  blood-stained  arena  of  the  amphi- 
theatre ;  wild  beasts  springing  around  them,  a  pam- 
pered, luxurious  world  looking  on.  —  In  their  renun- 
ciation, they  at  least,  of  their  race,  found  the  road  to 
social  equality.  No  white  woman  could  do  more  ; 
none  have  done  better. 

Like  all  beginners  in  a  new  field,  they  had  many 
obstacles,  trials,  and  tribulations  to  overcome ;  but 
their  perseverance  never  faltered,  and  they  could 
always  count  upon  the  support  and  sympathy  of  the 
Archbishop  and  his  Vicar-General.  Their  first  estab- 
lishment was  an  obscure  one  on  Bayou  road.  A  few 
years  later,  they  took  charge  of  a  home  for  old  and 
infirm  women  ;  later,  they  built  their  house  on  Bayou 
road,  between  Rampart  and  St.  Claude  streets. 

As  may  be  foreseen,  it  was  after  the  civil  war  that 
the  sisters  received  the  impetus  of  a  new  life,  and  felt 
the  true  prophetic  bidding  of  the  vocation  that  first  sent 
them  into  service.  Such  a  wave  of  want  and  misery 
from  their  own  race  rolled  in  upon  them,  that  they 
battled  merely  to  keep  head  above  it.  But  neverthe- 
less they  managed  to  establish  a  school,  open  two  branch 
houses  in  the  country,  and  take  charge  of  an  orphan 
asylum.  In  1881  they  felt  the  ground  under  their 
feet  once  more,  and  looking  up  saw  the  promise  of  a 
new  era  dawning  upon  them.  The  old  Orleans  street 
ball-room  was  in  the  market  for  sale.  They  bought 
it.  When  they  are  asked  "  What  were  your  means  ?  " 
they  answer  simply:  "Prayer  and  begging."  When 
it  is  asked  in  the  community,  "  Which  are  the  sisters 


NEW  ORLEANS.  351 

to  whom  one  listens  and  gives  with  the  most  pleas- 
ure?" the  answer  is  unhesitating,  "The  little  coloured 
sisters." 

The  community  consists  of  forty-nine  sisters,  a  supe- 
rior, and  an  assistant.  They  follow  the  rule  of  St. 
Augustine,  the  novitiate  lasting  two  years  and  six 
months  ;  vows  are  renewed  every  year  until  after  ten 
years'  profession,  when  they  become  perpetual.  They 
receive  orphans,  not  only  from  Louisiana,  but  from 
every  state  in  the  Union ;  from  South  America,  Cen- 
tral America,  and  Mexico.  Their  pay  scholars  come 
from  every  community,  it  would  seem,  in  the  New 
World  to  which  Africans  were  brought  as  slaves,  and 
they  represent  every  possible  admixture  of  French, 
Spanish,  English,  Indian,  and  African  blood.  There 
are  few  pure  Africans  among  them. 

Adjoining  the  Orleans  ball-room,  as  we  know,  stood 
that  social  cynosure,  the  Orleans  theatre.  Long  since 
burned  down,  its  site  was  filled  by  the  most  blatant  of 
circuses  about  the  time  that  the  ball-room  became  con- 
verted into  a  convent.  The  ring  of  the  circus  was  sep- 
arated only  by  the  necessary  width  of  the  wall  from  the 
ball-room — that  is,  from  the  chapel  of  the  convent,  and 
from  the  very  altar  which  filled  the  end  of  the  ball- 
room ;  and  the  ribald  noises  of  the  ring  made  most 
demoniacal  irruptions  into  the  chapel,  disturbing  the 
devotions  of  the  sisters,  profaning  their  most  sacred 
ceremonies.  Indeed,  as  related  by  the  sisters,  it  seemed 
at  times,  such  was  the  din  that  poured  in  from  behind 
the  altar  and  over  the  head  of  the  pale  virgin,  as  if  the 
old  mocking  spirits  of  the  room,  infuriated  into  a  ten- 
thousandfold  fury  of  maliciousness,  were  determined  to 
regain  possession  of  it.  The  discouraging  thought 


352  NEW  ORLEANS. 

more  than  once  came  to  the  sisters  —  it  was  of  course 
the  malicious  suggestion  of  the  evil  spirits — that 
neither  prayer  nor  exorcism  would  ever  prevail  against 
the  genius  loci,  "that  the  ball-room  could  never  become 
a  chapel,  but  must  remain  according  to  its  original 
character,  a  ball-room,  aye  and  forever.  And  so  twelve- 
month succeeded  twelvemonth,  and  circus  and  con- 
vent, in  their  inevitable  antagonism,  waged  their  war, 
each  after  its  kind ;  the  convent,  silent,  resigned,  firm  ; 
the  circus,  bold,  brazen,  and  triumphant,  as  no  doubt 
circuses  cannot  help  being.  But  the  circus,  foredoomed 
(as  circuses  also  inevitably  seem  to  be),  went  the  way 
of  the  theatre :  it  was  consumed  one  night. 

The  convent,  by  the  usual  miracle  of  convents, 
escaped.  And  it  did  more  than  escape  ;  for,  before  the 
dawning  of  daylight,  a  scheme  to  buy  the  ground  under 
the  smouldering  ruins  of  her  antagonist  began  to 
formulate  itself  in  the  brain  of  the  mother  superior. 
The  scheme  was  imparted  to  the  community  after  ser- 
vice ;  by  noon  the  prayers  and  the  begging  to  accom- 
plish it  were  at  work.  The  orphan  asylum  to-day  fills 
the  site  of  the  circus;  and,  covering  the  ring  of  the 
circus  —  not  to  say  that  the  measurement  is  exact,  over 
the  once  noisy,  brilliant  little  hippodrome  (it  was  never 
more  wicked  than  that),  extinguishing  forever  even  the 
memory  of  its  departed  glories  of  spangles,  stockinette, 
clown,  trapeze,  trick  horse,  and  learned  dog  —  rises  a 
chapel,  the  new  public  chapel  of  convent  and  asylum. 

This  chapel,  it  must  be  emphasized  as  a  necessary 
finish  to  the  relation,  was  built  from  a  legacy  left  the 
sisters,  just  at  the  moment  they  needed  it  for  the  pur- 
pose, by  one  of  their  own  colour  and  class,  Thorny 
Lafon,  a  philanthropist  who  (this  must  also  be  added 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


353 


to  the  relation  and  to  his  memory),  seeing  no  colour 
nor  sect  in  his  love  for  his  city,  distributed  his  life's 
earnings,  by  will,  indiscriminately  among  white  and 
black,  Protestant  and  Catholic.  The  state  legislature 
has  ordered  his  bust  to  be  carved  and  set  up  in  one  of 
the  public  institutions  in  the  city.  Like  the  statue  to 
Margaret,  it  will  be  the  first  memorial  of  its  kind  in 
the  country.  It  will  be  the  first  public  testimonial  by 
a  state  to  a  man  of  colour,  in  recognition  of  his  broad 
humanitarianism  and  true-hearted  philanthropy. 

"•  This,"  said  the  sister,  stopping  at  the  chapel  door, 
"  is  the  old  Orleans  ball-room ;  they  say  it  is  the  best 
dancing  floor  in  the  world.  It  is  made  of  three  thick- 
nesses of  cypress.  That  is  the  balcony  where  the  ladies 
and  gentlemen  used  to  promenade  ;  on  the  banquette 
down  there  the  beaux  used  to  fight  duels/' 


CHAPTER   XV. 

r  MHE  present  brings  us  to  ourselves,  which  is  quite 
-*-  a  different  point  of  view  from  our  ancestors  and 
the  past.  To  look  into  to-day  is  to  look  into  a  mirror  ; 
and  a  mirror,  except  to  the  dim-visioned,  affords 
mostly  only  ocular  verification  of  secret  apprehensions. 
Thank  Heaven,  it  is  only  we  who,  looking  out  of  our 
own  eyes  into  the  mirror,  and  seeing  the  thousand 
proofs  that  we  are  not  what  we  would  be,  can  know 
the  reason  for  it ;  others  guess  and  infer ;  we  know. 
But  reasons,  after  all,  are  only  a  satisfaction  in  the 
abstract  life  of  science.  Nothing  is  more  discouraging 
in  real  life  than  reasons ;  —  the  great  inevitable  in 
broken  causes.  Sometimes  it  almost  seems  that  it  is 
the  irrational  alone  that  can  hope  for  tranquility  here 
below,  for  their  logical  deficiency  cuts  them  off,  not 
only  from  the  inherited  responsibilities  of  the  past,  but 
emancipates  them  from  those  of  the  future. 

However,  if  there  be  secular  consolation  for  our  per- 
sonal mortality  as  citizens,  in  the  sentiment  of  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  life  of  the  city  itself,  there  is  the  same 
consolation  for  our  limited  morality  in  the  sentiment 
of  the  moral  continuity  of  the  city,  as  a  recent  French 
writer  expresses  it,  in  "  the  sentiment  of  the  city  itself  ; 

354 


NEW  ORLEANS.  355 

of  the  incessant  need  we  have  of  her,  and  the  immense 
part  she  has  had,  and  will  never  cease  to  have,  in  the 
formation  of  our  spiritual  as  well  as  material  security 
and  well-being ;  of  what  laborious  efforts  it  has  cost 
anterior  generations  to  constitute  her  what  she  is  ... 
of  the  gratitude  and  consideration  she  deserves,  not- 
withstanding her  imperfections."  .  .  . 

With  this  sentiment  in  one's  mind  in  regard  to  one's 
city,  the  most  inadequate  expression  of  her  present 
condition  seems  to  be  that  furnished  by  official  figures, 
fertilized  though  they  be  into  ever  sturdier  growth, 
annually,  by  statistical  reports;  the  blessedness  of 
knowing  that  a  mother  is  increasing  in  health  and 
wealth  would  be  poorly  conveyed  by  quotations  from 
her  physician's  report  or  her  bank  account. 

Sitting  on  the  balcony,  in  the  starlight  of  a  mid- 
July  night,  thinking  over  the  incompleteness  of  the  task 
accomplished  —  and  the  brave  effort  of  the  task  be- 
gun —  when  everything  that  should  have  been  put 
in  seems  left  out,  and  so  much  put  in  that  might  have 
been  left  out,  as  a  journey  which  delighted  in  its  actual- 
ity appears  in  retrospect  only  a  vast  series  of  regrets 
for  what  one  did  not  see.  On  such  an  evening,  look- 
ing up  at  the  dim  heavens  above,  there  seem  very  few 
stars  for  very  much  sky,  and  it  occurs  then,  that  in  the 
America  of  to-day,  and  city  for  city,  figures  are,  after 
all,  better  media  than  letters. 

Ah!  Rockets  suddenly  break  and  spangle  the  dim 
heavens  above  with  miniature  constellations,  comets, 
and  meteors  and  there  are  at  times  more  stars  now 
in  the  sky  than  space  to  hold  them ;  —  showering  in 
their  splendid  whirl  through  the  Milky  Way,  across 
Scorpio,  the  Dipper,  the  Cross,  Corona.  —  AVe  remem- 


356  NEW  ORLEANS. 

her  that  it  is  one  day  short  of  mid-July,  that  it  is 
the  fourteenth  of  July,  "le  quatorze,  de  France,"  that 
the  thoroughfares  are  arched  with  the  colours  of  the 
French  Republic,  that  the  Tricolor  flutters  from  the  car- 
heads,  that  the  "  Marseillaise  "  is  the  national  hymn  of 
the  hour,  and  that  patriotism  is  again  speaking  French, 
to  commemorate  the  fete  of  the  old  own  mother 
country  of  Louisiana.  It  is  a  timely  interruption  to 
recriminating  thoughts,  and  they  flash  after  the  fire- 
works, from  suggestion  to  suggestion  and  person  to 
person,  until  they,  too,  spangle  the  dark  interstices  of 
retrospection  and  collect  their  fantastic  groupings  of 
constellations. 

Moreau  Gottschalk's  "  Danse  Negre  "  falls  upon  the 
ear.  Moreau  Gottschalk!  how  completely  he  had  been 
forgotten  in  the  account  of  that  brilliant  American 
period  of  the  city!  That  any  one  could  ever  have  for- 
gotten him!  He  who  carried  the  music  of  New  Orleans 
into  the  great  European  lists,  and  won  name  and  fame 
for  himself  and  his  city  there.  Yes;  at  that  day  it  was 
called  fame.  It  is  a  Creole  pianist  who  is  playing 
the  "  Danse  Negre  "  now.  All  the  Creole  pianists  play 
Gottschalk's  pieces,  one  can  hear  them  at  any  time  in 
the  Creole  portion  of  the  city.  And  may  they  never 
cease  to  be  played  in  the  city  of  his  birth  and  inspira- 
tion, for  no  music,  imported  by  money  from  abroad, 
can  ever  speak  to  the  native  heart  as  it  does.  It  is 
the  atavism  of  the  soil  in  sound.  What  can  be  written 
about  his  place  and  his  people,  that  is  not  to  be  felt  in 
his  Danses,  Berceuses  and  Meditations  ?  and  in  him,  in 
Gottschalk,  too  ;  one  of  the  best  of  Creole  blossomings, 
the  purest  French,  Spanish,  and  good  old  Holland 
blood,  ripened  by  all  the  influences  of  the  place,  into  the 


Tievjamin  Franklin. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  359 

efflorescence  of  music.  And  what  a  ripening  influence 
he  has  been  for  others !  How  many  little  Creole  boys  and 
girls  since  his  triumph  have  been  spurred  to  the  daily 
routine  practice  at  the  piano  by  stories  of  how  little 
Moreau  Gottschalk  at  seven  years  accomplished  his 
six  hours  a  day.  And  ah!  what  meteoric  visions  of 
a  Moreau  Gottschalk  future  have  cheered  the  five-finger 
exercises  and  the  long  sittings  on  the  hard,  round, 
haircloth  stool,  so  inexorably  out  of  reach  of  the  pedals. 
And  later,  when  another  age  had  succeeded  to  the  five- 
finger  exercise  age,  when  all  the  glamourous  details  of 
the  artist's  life  (until  then  so  carefully  concealed,  which 
made  them  all  the  more  seductive)  became  known,  with 
his  tragic  death  in  South  America,  the  fervid  hearts 
of  the  young  pianists  beat  for  all  that  too,  as  for  the 
only  life  and  death  for  an  artist. 

Another  meteor  flamed  into  view  shortly  afterwards 
—  Paul  Morphy.  It  really  appeared  at  that  time  as 
if  the  Crescent  City  were  going  to  provide  the  United 
States  with  celebrities.  She  thinks  still,  in  her  pride, 
that  she  would  have  done  so  had  not  her  most 
promising  youth  been  drafted,  since  the  Civil  War, 
into  the  menial  service  of  working  for  a  living.  It  was 
not  veiy  long  ago  that,  at  opera,  theatre,  concert,  ball, 
or  promenade,  or  at  celebrations  at  the  cathedral,  the 
figure  of  Paul  Morphy  was  instinctively  looked  for. 
Dark-skinned,  with  brilliant  black  eyes,  black  hair ; 
slight  and  graceful,  with  the  hands  and  smile  of  a 
woman,  his  personality  held  the  eye  with  a  charm  that 
appeared  to  the  imagination  akin  to  mystery.  He 
belonged  also  to  what  is  called  the  good  old  families, 
and  dated  from  what  is  called  the  good  old  times,  and 
lived  in  one  of  the  old  brick  mansions  on  Royal  street. 


860  NEW  ORLEANS. 

whose  pretty  court-yard  ever  attracts  the  inquiries  of 
the  passing-by  stranger.  And  as  young  musicians  of  the 
day  strummed  after  the  star  of  Gottschalk,  so  young 
chess-players  played  with  Morphy's  glittering  triumphs 
and  the  chess  championship  of  the  world  before  them. 
They  are  old  chess-players  now,  meeting  in  a  great 
club  of  their  own,  entertaining  distinguished  visitors, 
and  holding  their  local  and  international  matches: 
but  that  which  most  prominently  characterizes  these  old 
gentlemen  to  the  foreign  and  to  the  home  chess  world 
of  to-day  is  not,  as  they  imagine,  their  personal  prowess 
at  the  game,  undisputed  as  that  is,  but  the  perpetu- 
ating in  their  club  of  the  Morphy  tradition  and  senti- 
ment ;  the  Creole  tradition  and  sentiment,  it  may  be 
called,  which  give  picturesqueness,  not  only  to  the 
individuals  but  to  so  many  of  the  institutions  of  New 
Orleans,  localizing  them,  narrowing  them,  perhaps,  but 
infinitely  poetizing,  and,  we  may  say,  enhancing  them. 
Out  of  that  period,  however,  there  is  no  man  who 
strikes  the  taste  of  the  present  with  so  fine  a  flavour  of 
the  old-time  dramatic  vicissitudes  as  he  whom  the  chil- 
dren of  the  public  schools  are  being  taught  to-day  to 
love  as  their  greatest  benefactor,  to  whose  bust  they 
bring  flowers,  and  for  whom  commemorative  exercises 
are  held  once  a  year, — John  McDonogh.  The  life  that 
he  acted  out  here  might  have  been  composed  by  a 
great  novelist,  it  seems  so  well  adjusted  to  its  round  of 
circumstance.  It  was  lived,  however,  and  not  merely 
written :  otherwise  the  criticism  would  be  that  it  was 
too  realistic,  and  that  it  was  weakened  by  that  absurd 
adjunct,  a  moral ;  and  the  story  begins  in  the  common- 
place way  that  no  modern  self-respecting  novelist 
would  deign  to  employ. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  361 

McDonogh  was  born  in  Baltimore,  of  worthy  and 
and  good  Scotch  parentage,  and  came  to  New  Orleans 
in  1800,  in  his  twenty-second  year,  on  a  commercial 
venture.  Tall,  fine  looking,  liberally  educated,  refined, 
polished  in  manner,  with  the  best  social  credentials, 
he  had  all  the  qualifications  necessary  at  that  time  in 
the  community  to  make  an  American  persona  grata  in 
society  —  in  society,  which,  in  reality,  was  the  com- 
munity. He  was,  as  i$  always  carefully  explained 
(a  very  antique  explanation  it  is  nowadays),  a  gentle- 
man first,  a  keen,  shrewd,  commercial  genius  second- 
arily. In  ten  years  he  had  made  his  fortune,  a  fortune, 
as  it  was  understood  then,  counted  by  the  hundreds  of 
thousands,  not  by  the  millions ;  and  he  enjoyed  it  as 
gentlemen  were  then  expected  to  enjoy  fortunes,  in  a 
handsome  establishment  (on  Chartres  and  Toulouse 
streets),  with  a  rich  gentleman's  retinue  of  slaves, 
carriages,  horses ;  giving  balls,  receptions,  dinner- 
parties, entertaining  ;  leading  the  life,  in  short,  of  a 
wealthy  young  gentleman  of  good  birth,  breeding, 
and  manners,  who  was  fond  of  society.  He  was,  in  the 
authoritative  judgment  of  prudent  mammas,  the  parti 
par  excellence  in  the  city.  Micsela  Almonaster  was  then 
in  all  the  belle-hood  of  her  fortune  and  sixteen  years, 
and  society  —  or  the  Almonaster  faction  in  society  — 
would  have  it  that  he  had  asked  the  hand  of  Micsela,  as 
all  the  young  beaux  were  then  doing,  but  was  refused 
because  he  was  a  heretic,  and  not  of  birth  noble 
enough  for  a  union  with  the  daughter  of  the  Alferez 
Real.  But  this  is  only  a  report,  to  be  buzzed  between 
women  in  balcony  gossips. 

During  the  invasion,  and  at  the  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans, McDonogh  distinguished  himself  by  his  gallantry 


362  NEW  ORLEANS. 

and  liberality,  as  all  young  men  in  society  were  in 
honour  bound  to  do,  his  name  and  his  person  figuring 
conspicuously  in  all  functions.  Then  —  this  is  the  fact, 
although  balcony  talkers  run  over  it  in  that  perfunctory, 
uninterested  way  they  have  of  treating  facts  —  there 
came  to  New  Orleans  a  Baltimore  merchant  of  wealth 
and  distinction.  As  has  been  noted,  wealth  at  that 
day  was  not  essentially  the  distinction  of  merchants. 
He  brought  his  wife  and  young  daughter  with  him.  It 
is  one  of  the  prettiest  of  pleasures  to  a  listener  to  hear 
old  beaux  talk  about  this  young  Baltimore  girl.  She 
was  extremely  beautiful  and  an  heiress,  but  —  this  is 
never  insisted  upon  —  she  did  not  impress  by  means  of 
it  at  all,  but  entirely  by  her  grace,  her  modesty,  her 
dignity,  seriousness,  ineffable  charm,  and  the  old- 
fashioned  virtues  of  truth,  candour,  and  high  prin- 
ciples. The  old  beaux  say  with  conviction,  and  their 
assurance  begets  conviction,  even  in  a  woman  now,  that 
for  all  in  all,  they  have  never  in  a  long  life  since  seen 
a  woman  to  compare  with  her.  The  parti  of  New 
Orleans  loved  her,  without  hesitation,  at  first  sight  — 
but  they  say  all  men  did  that  —  and  she,  when  she  knew 
him,  loved  him.  He  made  the  formal  demande  en 
mariaye.  The  father,  a  fervent  Roman  Catholic,  ex- 
acted a  change  of  religion.  This  was  categorically 
refused  by  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  lover.  The  young 
girl  made  no  terms  about  religion  :  she  could  not, 
knowing  his  love  and  her  love.  So  they  agreed  to  wait, 
and  trust  to  time  and  persuasion  to  change  the  father's 
determination. 

They  wraited  and  hoped  in  vain.  Another  formal 
demand  was  made  for  the  daughter  ;  it  was  again  re- 
jected. The  young  girl  then  announced  that,  as  she 


JVEJF  ORLEANS.  363 

could  not  marry  the  man  she  loved,  she  would  become 
a  nun.  She  took  the  veil  in  the  Ursuline  chapel.  He 
as  effectually,  in  his  own  way,  took  the  robe  and  ton- 
sure. He  broke  up  his  establishment  in  the  city,  aban- 
doned his  elegant  social  life,  and  retired  to  a  solitary 
and  isolated  existence  on  his  plantation  across  the  river, 
at  the  little  town  whose  lawlessness  had  even  then 
earned  for  it  the  title  of  "Algiers."  Every  morning, 
except  Sunday,  he  would  cross  the  river  in  his  own 
skiff,  rowed  by  his  slaves,  land,  walk  to  his  place  of 
business,  remain  there  until  afternoon,  return  on  foot 
to  the  levee,  cross  the  river  again  to  his  sequestered 
home.  This  was  all  that  his  former  friends  ever  saw 
of  his  life. 

As  the  young  girl  had  renounced  all  but  religious 
communication  with  the  world,  he  appeared  to  have 
renounced  all  but  business  communication  with  it ; 
and,  as  she  laboured  in  her  faith  for  one  expression  of 
a  purpose,  he  laboured  in  his  faith  for  another  expres- 
sion of  it.  Money-making  was  still  in  a  primitive 
state  of  development.  It  was  really  money-making; 
laying  up,  piece  by  piece,  filing  bill  after  bill ;  it  was 
buying  and  selling  a  commodity  itself,  not  the  wager- 
able  values  of  it ;  it  was  bargaining  upon  the  earth, 
not  speculating  in  the  air.  The  gay,  easy  society  of 
the  place,  reckoning  as  gentlemen  and  for  gentlemen, 
owned  but  two  capital  sins,  —  cowardice  and  avarice  ; 
it  was  pitiless  to  both.  The  rumour  started  that  the 
whilom  leader  of  society  was  making  money,  not  for 
the  enjoyment  it  could  buy  for  him  and  his  fellow- 
creatures,  but  for  its  own  sordid  sake  ;  that  he  was 
hoarding  it;  women  began  to  grow  cold  to  him;  men 
to  avoid  him,  except  for  business  purposes.  Thirty 


364  NEW  ORLEANS. 

years  afterwards,  a  long  period  of  time  reckoned 
humanly,  a  bent,  grey,  meanly  clad  figure,  with  stern, 
compressed  face,  was  pointed  at  on  the  street  as 
McDonogh  the  Miser. 

So  it  came  to  be;  McDonogh,  nothing  else  that  any 
one  cared  to  remember,  but  McDonogh  the  Miser.  In 
fact,  everything  else  about  him  had  been  forgotten. 
As,  during  one  period  of  his  life  every  circumstance 
fawned  to  him,  and  suggested  to  his  courtiers  more  and 
more  titles  of  respectful,  even  loving,  admiration,  now 
every  circumstance  produced  some  discredit  to  turn 
upon  him  ;  and,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  in  the 
city,  no  one  seemed  ever  to  know  him,  except  to  hate 
his  insufferable  meanness  ;  and  all  seemed  conscience- 
free  to  spy  upon  him  and  report  about  him.  The 
market-people  would  relate  the  miserable  pittance  he 
expended  every  two  or  three  days  upon  soup-meat  and 
potatoes ;  the  ferryman  how,  for  thirty  years,  summer 
and  winter,  in  rain  or  shine,  he  had  crossed  the  river  in  an 
open  skiff,  rather  than  pay  five  cents  to  the  ferry,  ex- 
cept once  during  a  furious  storm.  The  newspaper  boys 
repeated  that  he  was  never  known  to  buy  a  newspapec ; 
the  hackmen,  that  but  once  in  the  long  thirty  years  he 
took  the  omnibus; — the  day  before  his  death,  when  he 
was  seized  with  a  faintness  in  the  street.  He  sued  a 
widow  and  an  orphan  on  a  note,  and  was  vilipended  in 
open  court  for  it.  He  could  never  have  been  otherwise 
than  of  imposing  appearance ;  his  face,  from  mere  feature 
effect,  must  ever  have  been  fine  .  .  .  yet  it  was  used  as 
an  abhorrent  symbol  of  avarice  and  nothing  but  avarice. 
He  had  no  blood  in  his  veins,  it  was  said,  and  as  much 
heart  as  a  ten-dollar  gold  piece.  Most  pathetic  of  all 
was  the  way  the  children  knew  him,  despised  him,  and 


NEW  ORLEANS.  367 

shrarrk  from  him,  and  repeated  all  the  parental  accusa- 
tions against  him.  Had  he  been  a  proven  villain,  he 
could  not  have  been  treated,  in  the  hearts  of  people, 
more  cruelly.  Nay,  there  were  even  then,  as  there 
always  will  be  in  society,  rich  villains  who  were  treated 
well  by  all ;  but  they  were  not  stingy.  Common  people 
said  he  was  even  too  mean  to  be  immoral. 

It  was  a  generous,  free-handed  time,  as  we  must 
remember,  every  one  making  money  and  spending  it. 
There  was  even  some  emulation  among  the  rich  to  link 
their  names  to  the  city  by  some  deed  of  gift,  and  so 
gain  at  least  a  momentary  dispensation  from  the  oblivion 
of  death.  McDonogh  buying  and  selling  and  shaving 
paper,  accumulating  his  land  and  property,  reducing 
even  his  business  relations  with  men  to  the  barest  ne- 
cessities, revealed,  during  the  long  thirty  years  of  his 
after  life,  but  one  touch  of  humanity.  When  the  Ursu- 
line  sister,  after  her  thirty  years  of  work,  became  supe- 
rior of  the  convent,  he  availed  himself  of  the  privilege 
she  possessed,  of  receiving  visitors,  and  called  upon 
her  every  New  Year,  and  it  was  noted  that  he  dressed 
carefully  and  appeared  not  at  all  the  old  man  he  was, 
but  the  old  man  that  his  youth  promised  to  become. 

Death  took  him  at  last  one  day  in  1850,  and  people 
laughed  to  think  how  much  it  was  like  Death  taking 
himself.  He  was  buried  the  next  day,  Sunday  after- 
noon, in  the  tomb  he  had  prepared  on  his  plantation. 
His  will  was  probated.  And  then,  to  the  eyes  of  the 
city,  it  was  as  if  the  heavy  dull  clouds  of  a  winter's  day 
had  suddenly  cracked,  showing  through  innumerable 
fissures  glimpses  of  brightness  above  and  beyond ;  the 
brightness  which  had  always  been  on  the  other  side. 

Little  real  money  was  left ;  the  hoardings  had  been  of 


368  NEW  ORLEANS. 

land  and  city  property.  "  I  have  preferred,"  he  wrote 
in  his  will,  "  as  a  revenue,  the  earth,  as  part  of  the  solid 
globe.  One  thing  is  certain,  it  will  not  take  wings  and 
fly  away  as  gold  and  silver  and  governmental  bonds  and 
stocks  often  do.  It  is  the  only  thing  in  this  world  that 
approaches  anything  like  permanency."  He  bequeathed 
it  all  to  the  two  cities,  Baltimore  and  New  Orleans,  for 
educational  purposes,  asking  "as  a  small  favour,  that 
the  little  children  shall  sometimes  come  and  plant  a  few 
flowers  above  my  grave.''  It  is  a  pathetic  document, 
this  long,  rambling  will,  and  in  reading  it  one  quivers 
involuntarily  at  the  harsh,  rude  speeches  that  dogged 
the  man's  old  age,  and  one  shrinks  away  from  the  pre- 
sentment by  imagination  of  the  long,  lonely  evenings 
that  filled  the  thirty-five  years  of  the  solitary  planta- 
tion home,  —  and  one  wishes  —  ah !  how  one  wishes !  — 
that  the  little  children  had  not  mocked  and  pointed  at 
him,  and  that  at  least  one  in  his  life  had  proffered  him 
the  flowers  he  craved  for  his  grave.  "I  feel  bound  to 
explain,"  he  wrote;  "having  seen  and  felt  that  my  con- 
duct, views,  and  object  in  life  were  not  understood  by 
my  fellow-men.  I  have  much,  very  much  to  complain 
of  the  world,  rich  as  well  as  poor;  it  has  harassed  me  in 
a  thousand  different  ways.  .  .  .  They  said  of  me :  '  He 
is  rich,  he  is  old,  without  wife  or  child,  let  us  take  from 
him  what  he  has!'  Infatuated  men!  They  knew  not 
that  that  was  an  attempt  to  take  from  themselves,  for 
I  have  been  labouring  all  my  life,  not  for  myself,  but 
for  them  and  their  children." 

The  last  clause  reads:  "The  love  of  singing,  given  me 
in  my  youth,  has  been  the  delight  and  charm  of  my  life 
throughout  all  its  subsequent  periods  and  trials.  Still 
has  its  love  and  charm  pervaded  my  existence  and  gilded 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


369 


my  path  to  comparative  happiness  below,  and  I  firmly 
believe  led  me  to  what  little  virtue  I  have  practised." 

A  woman's  faded,  gold-embroid- 
ered slipper  was  found  hidden 
away  among  his  papers. 

Descendants  of  his  slaves  tell 
how  kind  he  was  to  them,  and  how 
comfortably  he  housed  them.  He 
built  a  church  for  them,  in  which 
he  often  read  the  Bible  and 
preached  to  them.  He  introduced 
among  them  a  scheme  of  gradual 
emancipation,  by  which  each  one 
could  purchase  freedom  in  the 
course  of  fifteen  years,  on  condi- 
tion of  returning  to  Africa  when 
freed.  It  worked  so  well 
that  chastisement  became 
unknown  on  the  plantation, 
and  eighty  self-freed  men 
and  women  left  Algiers  for 
Liberia  in  1841.  "They 
had  something  to  look  for- 
ward to,"  he  explained  in 
his  will,  "a  spark  glowed 
in  their  bosoms.  Take 
hope  from  a  man's  heart, 
and  life  is  not  worth  liv- 
ing." His  theory  was  that  white  and  black  men  could 
not  live  harmoniously,  side  by  side,  in  freedom,  and  in 
his  last  counsel  to  his  negroes,  he  urged  them,  "  as  their 
friend,  should  freedom  ever  come  to  them,  that  they 
separate  themselves  from  the  white  man;  that  they 


<£jtee.pl 


370  NEW  ORLEANS. 

take  their  wives,  their  children,  and  their  substance, 
and  depart  to  the  great  and  ancient  land  of  their 
fathers."  According  to  the  provisions  of  his  will,  a 
second  cargo  of  freed  slaves  sailed  for  Africa  in  1858. 

In  1855,  after  a  tedious  and  costly  litigation,  the  two 
cities  took  possession  of  their  inheritance.  Despite  the 
usual  mismanagement  of  a  money  trust  by  a  city's 
official  guardians  and  the  depreciation  in  value  of  the 
property  and  other  losses,  in  consequence  of  the  Civil 
War,  over  half  a  million  of  dollars  remained  to  carry 
out  the  purpose  of  McDonogh.  They  have  bought  or 
built  over  twenty  handsome  public  schoolhouses,  and 
under  the  present  most  worthy  administration  of  the 
fund,  a  goodly  fortune  still  rests  to  the  credit  of  the 
school-children  of  the  state.  In  each  schoolhouse  has 
been  placed  a  bust  of  John  McDonogh,  and,  as  has  been 
said,  the  little  children  are  now  being  taught,  among 
other  lessons,  to  reverence  and  love  him.  .  .  .  But  a 
bad  name  dies  hard,  and  love  is  a  difficult  thing  to 
learn  theoretically. 

At  the  same  time  witli  John  McDonogh,  and  side 
by  side  with  him,  lived  his  contrast,  one  whose  name 
is  a  synonym  for  all  that  is  charitable,  loving,  and 
broad-minded,  the  Israelite,  Judah  Touro.  He  also 
came  to  the  city  in  the  first  year  of  the  century,  and 
made  his  venture  in  commerce.  He  was  at  Chalmette, 
and,  physically  incapacitated  from  lighting,  he  volun- 
teered to  carry  shot  and  shell  to  the  batteries,  and  fell 
wounded,  it  was  thought  mortally.  For  thirty  years  he 
devoted  himself  exclusively  to  business,  and  was  never 
seen  on  the  streets  except  on  his  way  to  and  from  his 
office  ;  and  he,  too,  from  an  early  disappointment  in 
love,  never  married.  But  it  is  estimated  that  during 


NEW   OH  LEANS.  371 

his  lifetime  he  gave  away  over  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  charity.  For  his  own  people  he  built  a 
synagogue,  an  almshouse,  an  infirmary,  purchased  a 
cemetery,  and  contributed  forty  thousand  dollars  to  the 
Jewish  cemetery  at  Newport.  He  built  a  Christian 
church  for  a  minister  whom  he  greatly  admired,  and 
contributed  to  every  Christian  charity  in  the  city.  He 
subscribed  twenty  thousand  dollars  to  the  Bunker  Hill 
monument.  Of  his  private  benefactions,  particularly 
during  the  epidemics,  the  only  record  is,  that  he  not 
only  never  refused  and  never  stinted,  but  that  he  was 
always  the  first  and  most  generous  giver.  He  was  nig- 
gardly only  to  himself,  gratifying  only  the  strictly 
necessary  personal  wants.  His  clerk  once  bought  him 
a  coat,  and  on  the  same  day  a  friend  bought  a  similar 
one  two  dollars  cheaper;  he  made  the  clerk  return  his 
purchase ;  but  a  few  hours  later  he  gave  five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  sufferers  from  the  Mobile  fire,  before 
any  demand  had  been  made  upon  him. 

He  died  in  1854.  His  will  distributed  one-half  of 
his  fortune  in  charity  ;  every  Hebrew  congregation  in 
the  country  was  remembered,  and  a  legacy  was  left  to 
the  project  of  restoring  the  scattered  tribes  of  Israel 
to  Jerusalem. 

There  is  another  figure,  another  story,  perhaps  the 
most  original  of  all,  that  comes  to  us  out  of  this  little 
past  just  behind  us,  to  which  our  little  present  played 
the  role  of  vague,  distant  future.  By  the  rush  light  of 
our  reality,  how  clear  and  distinct  appear  to  us  its 
ideals,  problems,  mysteries,  its  enigmatical  destinies! 
What  a  game  of  blindmaii's-buff  our  grandparents  seem 
to  be  playing !  What  stumblings  !  What  gropings  ! 
What  irrationality  I  We  wonder  as  naively  at  their 


372  ,     XEW  ORLEANS. 

unconsciousness  of  their  foolishness  as  Iberville  did  at 
the  young  Indian  girls  who,  he  wrote  in  his  journal, 
went  naked  without  knowing  it.  And  d  propos  of  this, 
fancy  has  often  suggested :  suppose  some  Cagliostro 
had  entered  one  of  the  vaunted,  dazzling  assemblages 
of  the  society  of  the  time,  and,  looking  upon  all  the 
beautiful  and  charming  and  distinguished  women  about 
him,  had  predicted  to  them  that  one  woman  living  then 
in  their  city  would  be  the  first  woman  in  the  United 
States  honoured  by  a  monument ;  what  a  thrill  of  ex- 
citement would  have  passed  through  the  beautiful 
faces,  what  a  glance  of  expectation  leap  into  the  lovely 
eyes!  For,  in  their  youth  and  beauty,  flattered  by  the 
adulation  around  them  into  the  momentary  immortality 
of  belle-hood,  women  (intrinsically  simple  as  the  sex  is 
about  itself)  might  easily  be  startled  at  a  ball  into  pre- 
tensions to  the  permanent  immortality  of  a  monument. 
Suppose  that  under  challenge  and  badinage,  Cagliostro 
had  volunteered  to  lead  them  to  the  woman  in  question, 
with  what  a  titter  of  expectation  and  excitement  the 
gay  rout,  bursting  like  a  Mardi  Gras  procession  into 
the  dark  street  and  night  outside,  would  have  followed 
him.  Through  all  the  best  streets,  by  all  the  best 
houses,  away  from  all  the  good  families,  churches, 
charitable  institutions,  farther  and  farther  from  every 
possible  precinct  or  neighbourhood  of  their  own,  to  the 
terra  incognita  of  back  streets,  alley-ways  and  servants' 
passages,  winding  up  at  last,  oh,  climax  of  the  absurd! 
in  the  laundry  of  the  St.  Charles  hotel,  where  a  short, 
stout,  good-faced  young  Irishwoman  was  finishing^  her 
day's  task. 

There  is  not  much  to  tell.     Margaret    Haughery's 
story  is  simple  enough  to  be  called   stupid,  with  mi- 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


373 


punity.  A  husband  and  wife,  fresh  Irish  immigrants, 
died  in  Baltimore  of  yellow  fever,  leaving  their  infant, 
named  Margaret,  upon  the  charity  of  the  •community. 
A  sturdy  young  Welsh  couple,  who  had  crossed  the 
ocean  with  the  Irish  immigrants,  took  the  little  orphan 
and  cared  for  her  as  if  she  were  their  own  child.  They 
were  Baptists,  but 
they  reared  her  in  the 
faith  of  her  parents, 
and  kept  her  with 
them  until  she  mar- 
ried a  young  Irish- 
man in  her  own  rank 
in  life.  Failing  health 
forced  the  husband  to 
remove  to  the  warmer 
climate  of  New  Or- 
leans, and  finally,  for 
the  sake  of  the  sea 
voyage,  to  sail  to  Ire- 
land, where  he  died. 
Shortly  afterwards, 
Margaret,  in  New  Or-  : 
leans,  lost  her  baby.  *.*%» 
To  make  a  living,  she  rt 
engaged  as  laundress 

in  the  St.  Charles  hotel.     This  was  her  equipment  at 
twenty  for  her  monument. 

The  sisters  of  a  neighbouring  asylum  were  at  the 
time  in  great  straits  to  provide  for  the  orphans  in  their 
charge,  and  they  were  struggling  desperately  to  build 
a  larger  house,  which  was  becoming  daily  more  neces- 
sary to  them.  The  childless  widow,  Margaret,  went  to 


374  NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  superior  and  offered  her  humble  services  and  a 
share  of  her  earnings.  They  were  most  gratefully 
accepted.  From  her  savings  at  the  laundry,  Margaret 
bought  two  cows,  and  opened  a  dairy,  delivering  the 
milk  herself.  Every  morning,  year  after  year,  in  rain 
or  shine,  she  drove  her  cart  the  rounds  of  her  trade. 
Returning,  she  would  gather  up  the  cold  victuals  which 
she  begged  from  the  hotels,  and  these  she  would  distrib- 
ute among  the  asylums  in  need.  And  many  a  time  it  was 
only  this  food  that  kept  hunger  from  the  orphans.  It 
was  during  those  deadly  periods  of  the  great  epidemics, 
when  children  were  orphaned  by  the  thousands.  The 
new,  larger  asylum  was  commenced,  and  in  ten  years 
Margaret's  dairy,  pouring  its  profits  steadily  into  the 
exchequer,  was  completed  and  paid  for.  The  dairy  was 
enlarged,  and  more  money  was  made,  out  of  which  an 
infant  asylum  —  her  baby-house,  as  Margaret  called  it 
—  was  built,  and  then  the  St.  Elizabeth  training-asylum 
for  grown  girls.  With  all  this,  Margaret  still  could 
save  money  to  invest.  One  of  her  debtors,  a  baker, 
failing,  she  was  forced  to  accept  his  establishment  for 
his  debt.  She  therefore  dropped  her  dairy  and  took  to 
baking,  substituting  the  bread  for  the  milk  cart.  She 
drove  one  as  well  as  the  other,  and  made  her  deliveries 
with  the  regularity  that  had  become  a&  characteristic 
of  her  as  her  sunbonnet  was.  She  furnished  the  orphan 
asylums  at  so  low  a  price  and  gave  away  so  much  bread 
in  charity  that  it  is  surprising  that  she  made  any  money 
at  all  ;  but  every  year  brought  an. increase  of  business, 
and  an  enlargement  of  her  original  establishment,  which 
grew  in  time  into  a  factory  worked  by  steam.  It  was 
situated  in  the  business  centre  of  the  city,  and  Margaret, 
always  sitting  in  the  open  doorway  of  her  office,  and 


NEW  ORLEANS.  375 

always  good-humoured  and  talkative,  became  an  integral 
part  of  the  business  world  about  her.  No  one  could  pass 
without  a  word  with  her,  and,  as  it  was  said  no  enter- 
prise that  she  endorsed  ever  failed,  she  was  consulted 
as  an  infallible  oracle  by  all ;  ragamuffins,  paper  boys, 
porters,  clerks,  even  by  her  neighbours,  the  great  mer- 
chants and  bankers,  all  calling  her  "  Margaret "  and 
nothing  more.  She  never  dressed  otherwise  than  as 
her  statue  represents  her,  in  a  calico  dress,  with  small 
shawl,  and  never  wore  any  other  head  covering  than  a 
sunbonnet,  and  she  was  never  known  to  sit  any  other 
way  than  as  she  sits  in  marble.  She  never  learned  to 
read  or  write,  and  never  could  distinguish  one  figure 
from  another.  She  signed  with  a  mark  the  will  that 
distributed  her  thousands  of  dollars  among  the  orphan 
asylums  of  the  city.  She  did  not  forget  one  of  them, 
white  or  coloured ;  Protestants  and  Jews  were  remem- 
bered as  well  as  Catholics,  for  she  never  forgot  that 
it  was  a  Protestant  couple  that  cared  for  her  when 
she  was  an  orphan.  "  They  are  all  orphans  alike,'' 
was  her  oft- repeated  comment.  The  anecdotes  about 
her  would  fill  a  volume.  She  never  parted  from  any  one 
without  leaving  an  anecdote  behind  her,  so  to  speak. 

During  the  four  years  of  the  war  she  had  a  hard  task 
to  maintain  her  business  ;  but  she  never  on  that  account 
diminished  her  contributions  to  the  orphans,  and  to  the 
needy,  and  to  the  families  of  Confederate  soldiers. 

When  she  died,  it  seemed  as  if  people  could  not  be- 
lieve it.  "  Margaret  dead  I  "  Why,  each  one  had  just 
seen  her,  talked  to  her,  consulted  her,  asked  her  for 
something,  received  something  from  her.  The  news  of 
the  death  of  any  one  else  in  the  city  would  have  been 
received  with  more  credulity.  But  the  journals  all 


376 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


appeared  in  mourning,  and  the  obituaries  were  there, 
and  these  obituaries,  could  she  have  read  them,  would 
have  struck  Margaret  as  the  most  incredible  thing  in 
the  world  to  have  happened  to  her.  The  statue  was  a 
spontaneous  thought,  and  it  found  spontaneous  action. 
While  her  people  were  still  talking  about  her  death, 


T%**Qmffl^*K!&'> 

~'?l/  '  it--        '"""-        'M*.»  '  •'  ^'<V/^rr^>     41.-.-^— 

<,,iv-r--W    ,     ,      ^fifa,*.'    I!,, 
HU/*'///:|/.^  il, a/  .  .''  ' 


*••«..  nT,...^ 


the  fund  for  it  was  collected ;  it  was  ordered  and  exe- 
cuted ;  and  almost  before  she  was  missed  there,  she 
was  there  again  before  the  asylum  she  had  built,  sitting 
on  her  same  old  chair  that  every  one  knew  so  well, 
dressed  in  the  familiar  calico  gown  with  her  little  shawl 
over  her  shoulders,  not  the  old  shawl  she  wore  every 
day,  but  the  pretty  one  of  which  she  was  so  proud, 
which  the  orphans  crocheted  for  her. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  377 

All  the  dignitaries  of  the  State  and  city  were  at  the 
unveiling  of  the  statue.  A  thousand  orphans,  represent- 
ing every  asylum  in  the  city,  occupied  the  seats  of 
honour;  a  delegation  of  them  pulled  the  cords  that  held 
the  canvas  covering  over  the  marble,  and,  as  it  fell,  and 
"  Margaret "  appeared,  their  delight  led  the  loud  shout 
of  joy,  and  the  hand-clapping.  The  streets  were  crowded 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  and  it  was  said  —  with,  no 
doubt,  an  exaggeration  of  sentiment,  but  a  pardonable 
one  —  that  not  a  man,  woman,  or  child  in  the  crowd 
but  knew  Margaret  and  loved  her.  And  there  is  an 
explanation  of  this  exaggeration  that  might  be  excusa- 
bly mentioned,  that  as  the  unveiling  of  the  monument 
took  place  in  the  summer,  when  the  rich  go  away  for 
change  of  air,  the  crowd  was  composed  of  the  poorer 
classes,  the  working  people,  black  as  well  as  white.  As 
the  dedication  speech  expressed  it  for  them  for  all 
time:  "To  those  who  look  with  concern  upon  the 
moral  situation  of  the  hour,  and  fear  that  human  action 
finds  its  sole  motive  to-day  in  selfishness  and  greed,  who 
imagine  that  the  world  no  longer  yields  homage  save  to 
fortune  and  to  power  .  .  .  the  scene  .  .  .  affords  com- 
fort and  cheer.  When  we  see  the  people  of  this  great 
city  meet  without  distinction  of  age,  rank,  or  creed, 
with  one  heart,  to  pay  their  tribute  of  love  and  respect 
to  the  humble  woman  who  passed  her  quiet  life  among 
us  under  the  simple  name  of  '  Margaret,'  we  come  fully 
to  know,  to  feel,  and  to  appreciate,  the  matchless  power 
of  a  well-spent  life.  .  .  .  The  substance  of  her  life 
was  charity,  the  spirit  of  it,  truth,  the  strength  of  it, 
religion,  the  end,  peace — then  fame  and  immortality." 

Out  of  same  period  came,  also,  Paul  Tulane,  who 
endowed  the  city  with  a  university. 


378  NEW  ORLEANS. 

"  Gesta  del  per  francos,"  as  the  device  went  of  the 
preux  chevaliers  of  France  among  the  Crusaders  :  we 
must  credit  this  great  benefactor  to  the  mother  country 
and  mother  blood  of  Louisiana.  The  family  of  Tulane 
figures  in  the  earliest  records  of  Tours,  in  which,  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  various  members  of  it 
held  an  eminent  judicial  office.  The  immediate  family 
of  Paul  Tulane  were  Huguenots;  his  father  emigrated 
to  St.  Domingo,  where,  as  a  merchant  with  business 
connections  in  the  United  States  and  France,  he  accu- 
mulated great  wealth.  He  lost  it  all  there  in  the 
revolution.  Barely  escaping,  with  his  family,  the  mas- 
sacre in  which  most  of  his  relatives  and  friends  perished, 
he  sought  refuge  in  the  United  States,  and  established 
himself  near  Princeton,  New  Jersey.  The  straitened 
circumstances  of  his  father  could  grant  but  a  meagre 
education  to  young  Paul  Tulane.  At  sixteen  he  was 
working  on  the  family's  farm,  and  assisting  in  a  small 
grocery  at  Princeton.  His  cousin,  the  son  of  the 
probate  judge  at  Tours,  travelling  in  the  United  States 
through  the  South  and  West,  took  him  as  companion. 
The  journey  lasted  three  years  and  was  filled  with  all 
the  adventures  and  experiences  with  which  travelling 
in  that  day  was  replete.  Two  incidents  of  the  journey 
were  ever  afterwards  outstanding  in  Tulane's  memory: 
a  visit  to  General  Jackson  at  the  Hermitage  and  meet- 
ing on  a  steamboat  in  Kentucky  some  French-speaking 
gentlemen,  Creoles  from  New  Orleans,  who  were  taking 
their  sons  to  college.  This  struck  him,  coming  from 
Princeton,  as  most  strange.  "Is  it  true,"  he  asked, 
a  that  there  is  no  college  in  New  Orleans  where  the 
young  men  can  be  educated?"  These  words  and  his 
surprise  recurred  to  him  again  and  again  in  after  life. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  379 

Attracted,  doubtless,  by  the  nationality  of  the  place, 
he  came,  in  1822,  to  New  Orleans.  An  epidemic  of  yel- 
low fever  was  raging  at  the  time,  but  he  needed  to 
work,  and  found  it  easier  to  secure  a  good  situation  then 
when  there  were  so  many  vacant  from  death  and  aban- 
donment than  at  a  pleasanter  season.  Industrious,  pru- 
dent, frugal,  and  unquestionably  honourable  in  every 
transaction,  he  soon  rose  from  a  subordinate  position 
and  engaged  in  business  for  himself,  making,  in  course 
of  time,  not  only  a  living,  but  a  fortune,  alongside  of 
the  older  McDonogh,  Touro,  and  the  many  other  great 
fortune  makers  of  the  day.  Paying  a  visit,  fifteen 
years  later,  to  France  with  his  father,  the  latter  took 
occasion,  as  they  were  passing  through  Nantes  and 
Bordeaux,  to  call  his  attention  to  the  depressed  com- 
mercial situation  of  the  once  prosperous  cities,  the 
deserted  harbours,  empty,  rotting  warehouses ;  brought 
about  by  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  West  Indies. 
He  predicted  a  like  fate  for  New  Orleans,  and  re- 
minding his  son  of  the  ruin  of  his  own  fortune  in  St. 
Domingo,  warned  him  against  investing  his  money  in 
the  South.  The  young  merchant,  therefore,  placed  the 
bulk  of  his  profits  in  New  Jersey,  although  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  afterwards  he  realized  princely  rentals 
from  his  investments  in  New  Orleans. 

There  are  no  dramas,  no  romances,  tragedies,  nor 
passions  told  of  Tulane,  although  he  never  married. 
His  life  was  that  of  a  merchant  intent  on  business  ; 
of  a  man  of  dignity,  distinction,  refinement,  and  means. 
The  newspapers  did  not  publish  such  things  then, 
therefore  there  is  only  private  testimony  to  establish  it, 
but  it  was  always  said  of  him,  from  the  beginning  of 
his  career  in  New  Orleans,  that  in  proportion  to  his 


380  NEW  ORLEANS. 

means,  he  gave  away  more  in  charity  than  any  other 
man  in  the  United  States.  The  only  anecdotes  ex- 
tant about  him  relate  to  his  love  for  New  Orleans 
and  for  its  people.  He  was  fond  of  boasting  that 
he  had  eaten  fifty-one  Fourth  of  July  dinners  in  the 
place. 

The  day  predicted  by  his  father  came  to  pass ;  the 
question  of  slavery  brought  revolution  and  ruin  into  the 
city.  A  strong  sympathizer  with  the  South,  Tulane 
gave  liberally  to  the  families  of  Confederate  soldiers 
in  the  city,  and  was  the  ever  ready  helper  of  Confeder- 
ate prisoners.  His  personal  losses  by  the  war  were 
great,  but  they  were  naught  in  comparison  with  those 
who,  losing  only  thousands,  lost  their  all ;  with  families 
turned  upon  the  world  as  destitute  as  his  own  had  been 
by  the  revolution  of  St.  Domingo.  Commonplace  as 
such  things  are  in  print,  they  strike  with  an  awful 
originality  into  one's  own  experience,  and  the  old 
merchant  felt  keenly  the  change  in  the  fortunes  about 
him.  After  his  fifty-first  Fourth  of  July  dinner,  he 
returned  to  his  family  in  New  Jersey  to  end  his  days, 
being  then  past  his  three-score  years  and  ten. 

This  was  in  1873,  the  darkest  period  of  the  city's 
social  and  political  disorganization.  Tulane  could  not, 
perhaps,  in  the  whole  prosperous  triumphant  North, 
have  found  a  more  striking  contrast  to  his  "beloved 
Crescent  City,"  as  he  called  it,  than  was  offered  by 
Princeton  ;  the  opulent  little  college  town,  with  its 
fine  old  buildings,  libraries,  and  museums,  its  distin- 
guished society  of  resident  professors,  its  shaded  streets 
swarming  with  handsome,  happy  students.  In  the  old 
days  Princeton  had  been  a  favourite  college  with  the 
South.  In  the  arrogant  spirit  of  the  time,  it  was  con- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  381 

sidered  aristocratic  and  the  best  place  North  for  the 
education  of  a  gentleman's  sons,  and  its  rolls  had  car- 
ried generation  after  generation  of  the  best  families 
from  every  Southern  State.  Crowded  as  were  the 
streets  of  Princeton  then,  few  Southern  faces  were  to 
be  met ;  from  New  Orleans  it  was  doubtful  if  one 
could  be  found. 

And  the  old  question  and  exclamation  in  Paul 
Tulane's  mind  had  become  now  a  melancholy  confes- 
sion, with  an  addendum.  There  was  no  college  in  New 
Orleans  for  the  education  of  her  boys,  and  there  was  no 
money  to  educate  them  elsewhere.  Had  all  the  reve- 
nues of  Louisiana  been  turned  into  the  public  schools 
after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  it  would  not  have  more 
than  sufficed  for  the  urgent  needs  of  the  moment. 
Besides  the  white  children,  there  was  now  another 
entire  population  of  the  State,  the  negroes,  to  be 
taught,  and  of  these  not  merely  the  children,  but  the 
grown  men  and  women,  clamouring,  in  their  new  free- 
dom, for  the  school  rudiments,  the  alphabet,  spelling- 
book,  and  arithmetic.  But  the  public  schools,  with 
the  other  branches  of  the  state  government,  had  been 
made  a  factor  in  politics  by  the  Reconstructionists, 
and  with  all  the  millions  wrung  from  the  taxpayers  to 
meet  the  misappropriations  of  factional  legislatures, 
a  mere  pittance  had  been  granted  to  the  cause  of 
education.  Northern  philanthropy  came  to  the  rescue 
of  the  negro  race;  colleges  and  universities  for  their 
benefit,  handsomely  equipped  and  well  endowed,  were 
soon  in  full  operation  all  over  the  South.  In  New 
Orleans  two  universities  were  established  for  them. 
For  the  whites,  there  was  the  shell  of  the  old  Uni- 
versity of  Louisiana  ;  and  it  retained  a  corporate  ex- 


382  NEW  ORLEANS. 

istence  only  through  the  Schools  of  Medicine  and  of 
Law.1 

The  School  of  Medicine,  established  in  1835,  had 
made  a  brilliant  record  for  itself  before  the  war;  not 
only  for  the  ability  and  distinction  of  its  faculty,  but 
for  the  advantages  in  practical  instruction  it  offered, 
through  its  Charity  hospital.  It  maintained  itself 
during  the  war  and  disorders  following  the  disaster ; 
and  now,  the  only  institution  of  its  kind  in  reach  of 
the  impoverished  students  of  the  Gulf  States,  over- 
stretched its  dimensions  and  capacity  to  fulfil  the 
demands  made  upon  it.  The  Law  School,  founded  in 
1847,  with  a  record  only  less  brilliant  than  the  medical 
department,  had  also  survived  its  trials,  to  throw  open 
its  lecture-rooms  to  a  swarm  of  eager  aspirants.  The 
Academic  department,  organized  at  the  same  time  as 
the  Law  School,  could  not,  in  a  community  wholly  in 
favour  of  a  foreign  education  for  its  youth,  have  had 
other  than  an  apathetic  career.  Kept  up  before  the 
war  only  by  the  strenuous  exertion  of  a  few  public- 
spirited  citizens,  it  went  under  completely  in  the  floods 
of  war  and  reconstruction. 

When  the  Louisianians  came  into  possession  of  their 
own  government  again,  in  an  effort  to  retrieve  the 
past  and  to  restore  to  their  children  their  rightful 
opportunity  of  education,  the  Academic  department 
was  reorganized  ;  but  the  State,  overloaded  with  debt, 

1  An  explanation  seems  here  due  to  the  reader,  that  a  chapter  con- 
taining the  history  of  the  Charity  Hospital,  an  account  of  the  New 
Orleans  Bench  and  Bar,  the  return  of  the  Jesuits  and  their  educational 
work  in  the  community,  and  summary  of  various  charitable  insti- 
tutions and  libraries,  has,  for  fear  of  immeasurably  prolonging  the 
volume,  been  omitted. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  385 

could  do  little  more  than  provide  a  building  and  a 
poorly  paid  faculty.  The  professors,  young  Southerners 
who  had  thrown  themselves  into  the  work  with  the 
zeal  and  devotion  of  patriot  missionaries,  found  their 
time  and  strength  more  and  more  hopelessly  over- 
matched by  the  increasing  number  of  students  ;  who, 
in  their  brilliant  achievements  of  study,  in  their  noble 
emulation  to  relieve  parental  responsibility  and  retrieve 
their  political  birthright,  were  as  fine  a  body  of  students, 
their  professors  say,  as  ever  responded  to  instruction. 
The  very  fact  of  their  being  so  overmatched,  however, 
fortified  the  determination  and  courage  of  the  young 
professors,  and  they  battled  strong-heartedly  in  their 
class-rooms,  fighting  only  for  time,  only  to  hold  their 
Thermopylae  until  help  should  arrive.  Their  students 
speak  of  them  to-day  as  the  students  of  the  old  college 
of  Orleans  speak  of  their  professors. 

Friends  from  New  Orleans  visiting  Tulane  describe 
the  old  Creole  merchant  as  a  hale,  hearty  man  of  medium 
height,  with  broad  shoulders,  compact  figure,  shrewd, 
kind  face;  energetic  in  speech  and  nervous  in  action, 
always  sitting  011  the  balcony  of  his  great  mansion,  or 
walking  in  his  spacious  gardens  and  parks  ;  and  always 
asking  questions  about  his  old  home  and  the  friends 
left  behind.  This  was  his  favourite  theme  of  conversa- 
tion ;  the  city  and  the  people,  —  going,  with  the  insist- 
ence of  the  old,  over  and  over  the  old  names  and  old 
events,  with  all  the  comments  suggested  by  his  wisdom, 
sympathy,  and  experience.  There  was  but  one  answer 
possible  to  his  questions,  as  the  old  man  himself  knew : 
hard  times,  suffering,  and  want ;  very  few,  that  is,  very 
few  of  the  rich  citizens  of  his  early  days,  but  were 
engaged  in  a  hand-to-hand  struggle  for  existence  ; 


386  NEW  ORLEANS. 

widows  giving  lessons,  boys  and  girls  put  to  shop 
work.  There  were,  of  course,  some  rich  people,  and 
fortunes  were  still  accumulating  there  ;  but  the  excep- 
tions only  heightened  the  contrast  of  the  change  that 
had  come  over  the  others. 

To  such  a  man,  it  was  not  the  loss  of  fortune,  the 
turning  of  luxurious  aristocrats  into  wage  earners,  that 
counted ;  it  was  the  apparent  hopeless  condemnation 
of  a  proud  generation  to  a  penalty  of  illiteracy  from 
which  even  their  former  slaves  were  being  reprieved ; 
the  depriving  the  young  irrevocably,  for  lack  of  money, 
of  the  only  means  of  preserving  their  autonomy  in  the 
face  of  money  and  of  a  money-ruled  community.  He 
was  told  of  the  young  professors  in  their  college,  hold- 
ing their  defile,  thinking  every  moment  must  end  the 
struggle,  and  he  bought  the  building  and  presented  it 
to  them,  that,  at  least,  no  students  should  be  neglected 
for  want  of  room.  This  building,  selected  on  account 
of  its  proximity  to  the  School  of  Law  and  Medicine 
and  the  Academic  department,  was  none  other,  by 
strange  historic  coincidence,  than  the  blood-stained 
hall  that  held  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1868, 
since  known  as  Tulane  Hall.  And  then  the  thought 
of  a  university  began  to  work  in  the  only  quarter  from 
which  it  seems  relief  could  come  to  the  white  youth 
of  New  Orleans :  in  the  brain  of  Paul  Tulane.  Two 
years  later,  in  the  spring  of  1882,  he  made  his  dona- 
tion in  the  following  letter,  addressed  to  a  committee  of 
gentlemen  of  the  city :  — 

"  A  resident  of  New  Orleans  for  many  years  of  my  active  life, 
having  formed  many  friendships  and  associations  there  dear  to  me, 
and  deeply  sympathizing  with  its  people  in  whatever  misfortunes  or 
disasters  may  have  befallen  them,  as  well  as  being  sincerely  desir- 


NEW  OELEANS.  387 

ous  of  contributing  to  their  moral  and  intellectual  welfare,  I  do 
hereby  express  to  you  my  intention  to  donate  to  you  ...  all  the 
real  estate  I  own  and  am  possessed  of  in  the  city  of  Xew  Orleans 
.  .  .  for  the  promotion  and  encouragement  of  intellectual,  moral, 
and  industrial  education  among  the  white  young  persons  in  the 
city  of  New  Orleans  .  .  .  for  the  advancement  of  learning  and 
letters,  the  arts  and  sciences."  A  sudden  memory  of  the  old  times, 
the  gay  ante-bellum  period,  must  have  occurred  to  him.  "By  the 
term  education,  I  mean  to  foster  such  a  course  of  intellectual  de- 
velopment as  shall  be  useful  and  of  solid  worth,  and  not  merely 
ornamental  or  superficial.  I  mean  you  should  adopt  the  course 
which,  as  wise  and  good  men,  would  commend  itself  to  you  as  be- 
ing conducive  to  immediate  practical  benefit,  rather  than  theoreti- 
cal possible  advantage.  .  .  . 

"  With  devout  gratitude  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  for  enabling  us 
to  form  these  plans,  and  invoking  his  divine  blessing  upon  you  and 
your  counsels,  and  upon  the  good  work  proposed  among  the  pres- 
ent and  future  generations  of  our  beloved  Crescent  City,  I  remain 
with  great  respect, 

"  Your  friend  and  humble  servant, 

"PAUL   TULANE.  " 


It  was  just  two  centuries  and  a  few  weeks  from  the 
date  of  La  Salle's  Prise  de  Possession  and  project  of 
founding  a  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
city's  grand  climacteric  may  now  be  said  to  have  been 
reached,  —  her  history,  to  have  entered  a  new  era. 

The  endowment  made  amounts  to  one  million  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  By  a  contract  with  the  State, 
the  administrators  of  the  Tulane  fund  were  made  the 
administrators  of  the  University  of  Louisiana,  which  be- 
came the  Tulane  University  of  Louisiana,  and  as  such 
went  into  organization  in  1884.  After  ten  years'  life  in 
the  old  location,  a  nobler  site  has  been  provided  for 
it,  opposite  the  historic  grounds  of  Audubon  Park, 
upon  which  buildings  have  been  erected  worthy  of  the 


388 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


purpose  and  design  expressed  in  the  letter  of  their 
founder. 

The  good  man  lived  only  long  enough  to  see  his 
great  gift  started  on  its  mission,  for  it  may  be  said  of 
such  gifts  what  Milton  said  of  books,  that  they  "  do 
contain  a  progeny  of  life  in  them,  to  be  as  active  as 
that  soul  whose  progeny  they  are." 

Following  close  upon  Tulane  University,  and  made 

a  department  of  it, 
came  the  H.  Sophie 
Newcomb  College  for 
young  women,  estab- 
lished in  1886  by  the 
widow  of  another  suc- 
cessful New  Orleans 
merchant.  The  Rich- 
ardson Medical  Build- 
ing, the  new  home  for 
the  old  medical  col- 
lege, commemorates 

/  Corner  -^'.--|  "^w^j-.T  the    name    of   a   dis- 

tinguished and  hon- 
oured physician  and 
professor,  and  of  his 

widow,  who  erected  the  building.  The  Howard  Me- 
morial Library,  a  reference  library,  making  towards  a 
rare  and  most  valuable  collection  of  Louisiana  bibliog- 
raphy, is  the  pious  tribute  of  a  daughter  to  the  mem- 
ory of  her  father.  These  are  all  children  of  the  spirit 
of  Paul  Tulane.  It  is  only  the  respectful  silence,  im- 
posed by  the  living  presence  of  the  donors  among  us, 
that  closes  the  lips  of  the  eulogist  of  to-day;  the  praise, 
however,  can  safely  be  confided  to  the  future 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


389 


It  was  on  the  last  Monday  of  the  carnival,  Lundi 
Gras,  1699,  you  remember,  that  Iberville  made  his  way 
through  the  formidable  palisades  and  superstitious  ter- 
rors that  guarded  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  As  he 
lay  that  evening  on  the  rush-covered  bank  of  the  river, 
reposing  from  his  fatigues  and  adventures,  the  stars 
coming  out  overhead,  the  camp-fires  lighted  near  him, 
the  savoury  fragrance  of  supper  spreading  upon  the  air, 
he  thought,  according  to  his 
journal,  of  the  gay  rout  going 
on  at  that  moment  in  Paris, 
and  contrasted  his  day  with 
that  of  his  frolicking  friends. 
And  he  exulted  in  his  superior 
pleasure,  for  he  said  it  was 
gallant  work,  discovering  un- 
known shores  in  boats  that 
were  not  large  enough  to 
keep  the  sea  in  a  gale,  and 
yet  were  too  large  to  land  on 
a  shelving  shore  where  they 
grounded  and  stranded  a  half 
mile  out.  The  next  morning, 
on  Mardi  Gras,  he  formally  took  possession  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  first  name  he  gave  on  the  Mississippi  was 
in  honour  of  the  day,  to  a  little  stream  —  Bayou  Mardi 
Gras,  as  it  still  is  printed  on  the  last,  as  on  the  first  map 
of  the  region.  After  such  a  beginning,  and  with  such 
a  coincidence  of  festivals,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find 
traces  of  Mardi  Gras  celebrations  throughout  all  the 
early  Louisiana  chronicles.  The  boisterous  buffoon- 
eries of  the  gay  little  garrison  at  Mobile  generally  made 
Ash  Wednesday  a  day  for  military  as  well  as  clerical 


390 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


discipline,  and  the  same  record  was  maintained  in  New 
Orleans.  As  for  New  Orleans,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  her 
streets  saw  not  the  sober  qualities  of  life  any  earlier 
than  the  travesty  of  it,  and  that  since  their  alignment 
by  Pauger,  they  have  never  missed  their  yearly  afflu- 
ence of  Mardi  Gras  masks  and  dominoes;  nor  from  the 
earliest  records,  have  the  masks  and  dominoes  missed 
their  yearly  balls. 

Critical  European  travellers  aver  that  they  recognize 


by  a  thousand  shades  in  the  colouring  of  the  New 
Orleans  carnival,  the  Spanish,  rather  than  the  French 
influence,  citing  as  evidence  the  innocent  and  respect- 
ful fooleries  of  street  maskers,  the  dignity  of  the  great 
street  parades,  the  stately  etiquette  of  the  large  public 
mask  balls,  the  refined  intrigue  of  the  private  ones. 
These  characteristics  naturally  escape  the  habituated 
eyes  of  the  natives.  The  old  French  and  Spanish  spirit 
of  the  carnival  has  in  their  eyes  been  completely  de- 


NEW  ORLEANS.  391 

stroyed  by  the  innovation  of  American  ideas,  as  they 
are  still  called.  For  it  was  an  American  idea  to  organ- 
ize the  carnival,  to  substitute  regular  parades  for  the 
old  impromptu  mummery  in  the  streets,  and  to  unite 
into  two  or  three  great  social  assemblages  the  smaller 
public  mask  balls  that  were  scattered  through  the  sea- 
son, from  Twelfth  Night  to  Mardi  Gras.  The  modifi- 
cation was  a  necessary  one  in  a  place  where  society  had 
so  rapidly  outgrown  the  limiting  surveillance  of  a  resi- 
dent governor  and  of  an  autocratic  court  circle;  and 
if  much  seems  to  have  been  lost  of  the  old  individual 
exuberance  of  wit  and  fun,  specimens  of  which  have 
come  to  us  in  so  many  fascinating  episodes  from  the 
always  socially  enviable  past,  the  gain  in  preserving  at 
least  the  forms  of  the  old  society  through  the  social  up- 
heaval and  chaos  of  revolution  and  civil  war  has  been 
real  and  important. 

The  celebration  of  Mardi  Gras  is  an  episode  that 
never  becomes  stale  to  the  people  of  the  city,  however 
monotonous  the  description  or  even  the  enumeration  of 
its  entertainments  appears  to  strangers.  At  any  age  it 
makes  a  Creole  woman  young  to  remember  it  as  she 
saw  it  at  eighteen  ;  and  the  description  of  what  it 
appeared  to  the  eyes  of  eighteen  would  be,  perhaps,  the 
only  fair  description  of  it,  for  if  Mardi  Gras  means  any- 
thing, it  means  illusion ;  and  unfortunately,  when  one 
attains  one's  majority  in  the  legal  world,  one  ceases  to 
be  a  citizen  of  Phantasmagoria. 

There  is  a  theory,  usually  bruited  by  the  journals  on 
Ash  Wednesday  morning,  that  Mardi  Gras  is  a  utili- 
tarian festival ;  that  it  pays.  But  this  deceives  no  one 
in  the  city.  It  is  assumed,  as  the  sacramental  ashes  are 
by  many,  perfunctorily,  or  merely  for  moral  effect  upon 


392 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


others,  upon  those  who  are  committed,  by  birth  or  con- 
viction, against  pleasure  for  pleasure's  sake.  To  the 
contrite  journalist,  laying  aside  mask  and  domino,  to 
pen  such  an  editorial,  it  must  seem  indeed  at  such  a 
time  a  disheartening  fact  that  money-making  is  the 
only  pleasure  in  the  United  States  that  meets  with  uni- 
versal journalistic  approbation. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  royalties  of  the  carnival 
show  a  no  more  satisfactory  divine  right  to  their  thrones 
than  other  royalties ;  that  the  kings  are  the  heavy  con- 
tributors to  the  organization,  and  that  a  queen's  claims 


upon  the  council  boards  of  the  realm  of  beauty  are  not 
entirely  by  reason  of  her  personal  charm.  There  is  such 
a  tradition,  but  it  is  never  recognized  at  carnival  time, 
and  seldom  believed  by  the  ones  most  interested ;  never, 
never,  by  the  society  neophyte  of  the  season.  Ah,  no  ! 
Comus,  Momus,  Proteus,  the  Lord  of  Misrule,  Rex,  find 
ever  in  New  Orleans  the  hearty  loyalty  of  the  most  un- 
questioned Jacobinism ;  and  the  real  mask  of  life  never 
portrays  more  satisfactorily  the  fictitious  superiority  of 
consecrated  individualism  in  European  monarchies  than, 
in  the  Crescent  City,  do  these  sham  faces,  the  eternal 
youth  and  beauty  of  the  carnival  royalties. 


NEW  ORLEANS.  393 

There  is  a  tradition  that  young  matrons  have  recog- 
nized their  husbands  in  their  masked  cavaliers  at  balls ; 
and  that  the  Romeo  incognito  of  many  a  debutante  has 
been  resolved  into  a  brother,  or  even  (beshrew  the  sus- 
picion ! )  a  father  ;  but  at  least  it  is  not  the  debutante 
who  makes  the  discovery.  Her  cavalier  is  always  be- 
yond peradventure  her  illusion,  living  in  the  Elysium 
of  her  future,  as  the  cavalier  of  the  matron  is  always 
some  no  less  cherished  illusion  from  the  Elysium  of  the 
past.  As  it  is  the  desire  of  the  young  girl  to  be  the  sub- 
ject of  these  illusions,  so  it  is  the  cherished  desire  of  the 
young  boy  to  become  the  object  of  them.  To  put  on 
mask  and  costume,  to  change  his  personality  ;  to  figure 
some  day  in  the  complimentary  colouring  of  a  prince  of 
India,  or  of  a  Grecian  god,  or  even  to  ape  the  mincing 
graces  of  a  dancing  girl  or  woodland  nymph  ;  to  appear 
to  the  inamorata,  clouded  in  the  unknown,  as  the 
ancient  gods  did  of  old  to  simple  shepherdesses ;  and 
so  to  excite  her  imagination  and  perhaps  more  ;  this 
is  the  counterpart  of  the  young  girl's  illusions  in  the 
young  boy's  dreams.  A  god  is  only  a  man  when  he  is 
in  love ;  and  a  man,  all  a  god. 

Utilitarian  !  Alas,  no  !  Look  at  the  children  !  But 
they  nevertheless  have  always  furnished  the  sweetest 
delight  of  Mardi  Gras,  as  Rex  himself  must  acknowl- 
edge from  his  throne  chariot.  It  is  the  first  note  of  the 
day,  the  twittering  of  the  children  in  the  street,  the 
jingling  of  the  bells  on  their  cambric  costumes.  What 
a  flight  of  masquerading  butterflies  they  are !  And 
what  fun  !  what  endless  fun  for  them,  too,  to  mystify, 
to  change  their  chubby  little  personalities,  to  hide  their 
cherub  faces  under  a  pasteboard  mask,  and  run  from 
house  to  house  of  friends  and  relations,  making  people 


394 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


guess  who  they  are,  and  frightening  the  good-natured 
servants  in  the  kitchen  into  such  convulsions  of  terror ! 
And  they  are  all  going  to  be  Rex  some  day,  as  in  other 
cities  the  little  children  are  all  going  to  be  President. 

Profitable  !  Ah,  yes  !  Ask  the  crowd  in  the  street ; 
that  human  olla  podrida  of  carelessness,  joviality,  and 
colour  ;  more  red,  blue,  and  yellow  gowns  to  the  block 
than  can  be  met  in  a  mile  in  any  other  city  of  the 
United  States.  Ask  the  larking  bands  of  maskers  ; 
the  strolling  minstrels  and  monkeys  ;  the  coloured 


torchbearers  and  grooms ;  Bedouin  princes  in  their 
scarlet  tunics  and  turbans  (no  travesty  this,  but  the 
rightful  costume,  as  the  unmasked,  black  face  testifies) . 
Even  the  mules  that  draw  the  cars  recognize  the  true 
profit  of  the  Saturnalian  spirit  of  the  carnival,  and  in 
their  gold-stamped  caparisons,  step  out  like  noble 
steeds  of  chivalry,  despite  their  ears. 

The  day  is  so  beautiful,  so  beautiful  that  it  is  a  local 
saying  that  it  never  rains  on  Mardi  Gras.  It  were  a 
better  saying  that  it  never  should  rain  on  Mardi  Gras. 

And  yet,  if  it  were  granted  a  native  in  exile  to  return 


NEW  ORLEANS.  395 

to  the  city  upon  but  one  day  of  the  year,  that  day 
would  be  All  Saints,  le  jour  des  marts,  the  home  festival 
of  the  city,  for  it  comes  at  a  season  when  there  are 
few,  if  any,  strangers  visiting  the  place.  The  deni- 
zens from  other  regions,  without  the  sentiment  of  the 
day  in  their  hearts,  make  it  a  holiday  for  out-of-town 
excursions ;  hunting  parties,  country  jaunts.  They 
have  not  their  dead  with  them.  They  do  not  travel, 
as  people  of  old  did,  to  a  new  habitation,  with  the  bones 
of  their  ancestors,  to  consecrate  the  spot  for  them  with 
a  past,  a  memory ;  to  localize  it  in  their  lives  with  a 


sentiment  instead  of  a  profit.  To  people  of  the  city, 
the  real  people  of  the  city,  as  they  like  to  be  called,  not 
to  observe  the  day  means  to  have  no  dead,  no  ancestors. 
It  is  heralded  well  in  advance.  For  a  month  before 
its  advent  the  bead  ex-votos  and  tissue  paper  crowns 
hang  in  the  shop  windows,  and  local  gossip  busies 
itself  as  to  whether  the  chrysanthemums  will  bloom 
in  time,  and  what  their  price  will  be  ;  and  the  dress- 
makers prepare  against  the  annual  rush  for  new 
mourning  for  the  day,  as,  later  on,  they  prepare 
against  the  Mardi  Gras  rush  for  ball  dresses. 


396  NEW  ORLEANS. 

The  cemeteries,  as  the  day  nears,  become  more  like 
cities  of  the  living  than  of  the  dead,  from  the  noise, 
bustle,  and  activity  around  their  dread  gates  and 
through  their  solemn  pathways,  of  gardeners,  masons, 
and  cleaners  making  ready  the  tombs  for  their  anni- 
versary. Judgment  day  itself  could  not  be  more  ex- 
citingly prepared  for.  Outside,  the  banquettes  are 
turned  into  a  market  place  for  every  requisite  of 
sepulchral  cleanliness  and  ornament ;  hillocks  of  sand 
and  shell,  plants  in  pots  or  hampers,  flowers  in  bas- 
kets, trays  of  plaster  images,  and,  hanging  on  the  wall, 
wreaths,  hearts,  crosses,  and  anchors  of  dried  immor- 
telles, artificial  roses,  or  curled,  glazed,  white,  black 
and  purple  paper.  Close  along  the  gutters,  the  per- 
ambulating refreshment  booths  are  ranged ;  and  the 
coloured  marchandes,  in  tignons  and  fichus,  with  their 
baskets  of  molasses  candy,  pralines,  and  pain-patate  — 
all  crying  their  wares  at  once. 

On  the  last  day  of  October,  the  flower  venders  come, 
filling  the  banquettes  all  around  the  churches  and 
markets,  securing  stations  at  the  corners  of  the  streets, 
where,  under  the  flare  of  torches,  they  sell  their  white 
chrysanthemum  crosses,  crowns,  and  baskets  late  into 
the  night.  There  are  never  flowers  enough,  despite 
season,  nature,  or  artifice  ;  how  can  there  be  when 
everybody,  even  to  the  beggars,  must  have  some ;  for 
even  the  beggars  have  their  dead  somebody  to  remem- 
ber, their  grave  somewhere  to  decorate.  By  daylight 
of  All  Saints,  the  early  church-goers  say  in  quaint 
figure  of  speech,  that  the  city  smells  like  a  cemetery, 
meaning  the  fragrance  of  it  from  the  flowers  every- 
where. 

It  is  a  day  that  begins  very  early  on  account  of  the 


NEW  ORLEANS. 


397 


crowd.  The  little  orphans,  under  charge  of  Sisters,  or 
Matrons,  hasten  betimes  from  their  asylums,  to  take 
their  positions  inside  the  gates,  behind  tables,  where 
they  chink  pieces  of  silver  on  plates  to  remind  the 
passing  throng  that  they  are  orphans  and  represent  a 
double  interest  in  and  claim  upon  the  day. 

Although  the  city,  on  no  other  occasion,  affords  to 


the  eye  an  assemblage  of  its  populace  that  can  com- 
pare in  interest  with  the  concourse  in  the  streets  and 
cemeteries  on  this  day,  consecrated  to  memory  of  the 
dead;  and  although  there  is,  also,  none  so  inherently 
appealing  to  the  heart,  how  can  one  describe  it  ?  To 
speak  of  it  at  all  is  to  speak  of  it  too  much.  The  ex- 
ternal, the  obvious  features  of  it,  are  but  as  the  under- 
taker's paraphernalia  to  the  sentiment  of  death.  The 


398  NEW  ORLEANS. 

aged  ones,  themselves  so  close  to  death,  white-haired, 
bent-backed,  clasping  their  memorials  in  palsied  hands  ; 
the  little  ones  tripping  gaily  along  with  carefully 
shielded  bouquet ;  the  inmate  from  the  almshouse  hob- 
bling among  the  pauper  graves ;  the  wrinkled  negro 
mammies  and  uncles  with  their  tokens ;  the  coloured 
people  going  to  their  cemeteries  ;  the  Italians,  Spaniards, 
Portuguese,  around  their  gaudily  draped  mausoleums ; 
—  one  can  only  enumerate  details  like  that. 

When  De  la  Tour  made  the  plan  of  the  city,  and 
allotted  the  space  for  church  purposes,  he  allotted  also 
space  outside  the  city  ramparts  for  a  cemetery ;  and  so 
long  as  the  city  lived  and  died  within  sound  of  the 
bells  of  the  parish  church  of  St.  Louis,  this  one  ceme- 
tery— -the  old  St.  Louis  cemetery  as  it  is  called  — 
sufficed.  It  is  the  mother  cemetery  of  the  city,  the 
vieux  carr£  of  the  dead ;  as  confused  and  closely  packed 
a  quarter  as  the  living  metropolis,  whose  ghostly  coun- 
terpart it  is ;  with  tombs  piled  in  whatever  way  space 
could  be  found,  and  walls  lined  with  tier  upon  tier  of 
receptacles,  "  ovens  "  as  they  are  termed  in  local  parlance ; 
the  lowest  row  sunken  into  a  semi-burial  themselves,  in 
the  soft  earth  beneath.  The  crumbling  bricks  of  the 
first  resting-places  built  there  are  still  to  be  seen, 
draped  over  with  a  wild  growth  of  vine,  which  on  sun- 
shiny days  are  alive  with  scampering,  flashing,  green 
and  gold  lizards.  On  All  Saints  a  flower  could  not  be 
laid  amiss  anywhere  in  this  enclosure  ;  there  is  not  in 
it  an  inch  of  earth  that  has  not  performed  its  share  of 
kindly  hospitality  to  some  bit  of  humanity. 

Block  after  block  in  the  rear  of  the  first  cemetery 
has  been  walled  in  and  added  to  the  original  enclosure, 
the  effort  always  being  made  to  keep  on  the  outskirts  of 


NEW  OELEANS.  .      399 

habitations.  But  the  great  continuous  immigration 
of  the  "flush"  times  ever  extending  the  limits  of  the 
city,  the  outskirts  of  one  decade  grew  into  populous 
centres  of  the  next,  and  the  cemeteries  became  enisled 
in  the  dwellings  of  the  living. 

The  festival  of  the  dead  might  be  called  the  festival 
of  the  history  of  the  city.  Year  after  year  from  under 
their  decorations  of  evergreens  and  immortelles,  roses 
and  chrysanthemums,  the  tombstones  recall  to  the  All- 
Saints  pilgrims  the  names  and  dates  of  the  past ;  identi- 
fying the  events  with  the  sure  precision  of  geological 
strata.  On  them  are  chronicled  the  names  of  the  French 
and  Canadian  first  settlers ;  the  Spanish  names  and 
Spanish  epitaphs  of  that  domination  ;  the  names  of  the 
SmigrSs  from  the  French  revolution  ;  from  the  different 
West  Indian  islands ;  the  names  of  the  refugees  from 
Napoleon's  army ;  the  first  sprinkling  of  American 
names  ;  and  those  interesting  English  names  that  tell 
how  the  wounded  prisoners  of  Pakenham's  army  pre- 
ferred remaining  in  the  land'  of  their  captivity,  to 
returning  home.  The  St.  Louis  cemetery  for  the  col- 
oured people  unfolds  the  chapter  of  the  coloured  immi- 
gration, and  by  epitaph  and  name  furnishes  the  links 
of  their  history. 

The  first  Protestant  cemetery  (very  far  out  of  the 
oity  in  its  day,  now  in  the  centre)  bears  the  name  of 
the  French  Protestant  mayor  and  philanthropist,  Nicolas 
Girod.  It  belongs  to  the  Faubourg  Ste.  Marie  period, 
and  in  it  are  found  the  names  of  the  pioneers  of  her 
enterprise  ;  of  the  first  great  American  fortune  makers, 
the  first  great  political  leaders,  the  brilliant  doctors  of 
law,  medicine,  and  divinity,  who  never  have  died  from 
the  memory  of  the  place.  In  it  is  to  be  found  the  tomb 

2D 


400  NEW  ORLEANS. 

of  that  beautiful  woman  and  charming  actress,  Miss 
Placide,  with  the  poetical  epitaph  written  for  her  by 
Caldwell ;  the  lines  which  every  woman  in  society  in 
New  Orleans,  fifty  years  ago,  was  expected  to  know  and 
repeat.  The  Mexican  war  is  commemorated  in  it  by  a 
monument  to  one  of  the  heroes  and  victims,  General 
Bliss.  The  great  epidemics  make  their  entries  year 
after  year ;  pathetic  reading  it  is ;  all  young,  strong, 
and  brave,  according  to  their  epitaphs,  and  belonging 
to  the  best  families.  The  epidemics  of  '52  and  '53  date 
the  opening  of  new  cemeteries,  in  which  the  lines  of  the 
ghastly  trenches  are  still  to  be  traced. 

The  Metairie  cemetery  (transformed  from  the  old 
race  track)  contains  the  archives  of  the  new  era  —  after 
the  civil  war  and  the  reconstruction.  In  it  are  Con- 
federate monuments,  and  the  tombs  of  a  grandeur  sur- 
passing all  previous  local  standards.  As  the  saying  is, 
it  is  a  good  sign  of  prosperity  when  the  dead  seem  to 
be  getting  richer. 

The  old  St.  Louis  cemetery  is  closed  now.  It  opens 
its  gates  only  at  the  knock  of  an  heir,  so  to  speak; 
gives  harbourage  only  to  those  who  can  claim  a  resting- 
place  by  the  side  of  an  ancestor.  Between  All  Saints 
and  All  Saints,  its  admittances  are  not  a  few,  and  the 
registry  volumes  are  still  being  added  to ;  the  list  of 
names,  in  the  first  crumbling  old  tome,  is  still  being 
repeated,  over  and  over  again  ;  some  of  them  so  old  and 
so  forgotten  in  the  present  that  death  has  no  oblivion 
to  add  to  them.  Indeed,  we  may  say  they  live  only  in 
the  death  register. 

Not  a  year  has  gone  by  since,  on  a  January  day,  one 
of  the  bleakest  winter  days  the  city  had  known  for 
half  a  century,  a  file  of  mourners  followed  one  of  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  401 

city's  oldest  children,  and  one  of  the  cemetery's  most 
ancient  heirs,  to  his  last  resting-place  by  the  side  of 
a  grandfather.  The  silver  crucifix  gleamed  fitfully 
ahead,  appearing  and  disappearing  as  it  led  the  way 
in  the  maze  of  irregularly  built  tombs,  through  path- 
ways, hollowed  to  a  furrow,  by  the  footsteps  of  the 
innumerable  funeral  processions  that  had  followed  the 
dead  since  the  first  burials  there.  The  chanting  of 
the  priests  winding  in  and  out  after  the  crucifix,  fell  on 
the  ear  in  detached  fragments,  rising  and  dropping 
as  the  tombs  closed  in  or  opened  out  behind  them. 
The  path,  with  its  sharp  turns,  was  at  times  impassa- 
ble to  the  coffin,  and  it  had  to  be  lifted  above  the  tombs 
and  borne  in  the  air,  on  a  level  with  the  crucifix.  With 
its  heavy  black  draperies,  its  proportions  in  the  grey 
humid  atmosphere  appeared  colossal,  magnified,  and 
transfigured  with  the  ninety-one  years  of  life  inside. 
It  was  Charles  Gayarre  being  conveyed  to  the  tomb  of 
M.  de  Bore",  the  historian  of  Louisiana  making  his  last 
bodily  appearance  on  earth  —  in  the  corner  of  earth  he 
had  loved  so  well  and  so  poetically. 

Woman  and  mother  as  she  ever  appeared  in  life  to 
the  loving  imagination  of  her  devoted  son,  it  was  but 
fitting  that  New  Orleans  should  herself  head  the  file  of 
mourners  and  weep  bitterly  at  the  tomb ;  for  that  she 
lives  at  all  in  that  best  of  living  worlds,  the  world  of 
history,  romance,  and  poetry,  she  owes  to  him  whom 
brick  and  mortar  were  shutting  out  forever  from  human 
eyes.  As  a  youth,  he  consecrated  his  first  ambitions  to 
her ;  through  manhood,  lie  devoted  his  pen  to  her ; 
old,  suffering,  bereft  by  misfortune  of  his  ancestral 
heritage,  and  the  fruit  of  his  prime's  vigour  and  indus- 
try, he  yet  stood  ever  her  courageous  knight,  to  defend 


402 


NEW  OKLEANS. 


her  against  the  aspersions  of  strangers,  the  slanders  of 
traitors.  He  held  her  archives  not  only  in  his  memory 
but  in  his  heart,  and  while  he  lived,  none  dared  make 
public  aught  about  her  history  except  with  his  vigilant 
form  in  the  line  of  vision. 

The  streets  of  the  vieux  carr£,  through  which  he 
gambolled  as  a  schoolboy,  and  through  which  his  hearse 
had  slowly  rolled ;  the  cathedral  in  which  he  was  bap- 
tized, and  in  which  his  requiem  was  sung ;  and  the  old 
cemetery,  the  resting-place  of  his  ancestors,  parents, 
and  forbears,  and  the  sanctuary  in  which  his  imagina- 
tion ever  found  inspiration  and  courage — they  gave 
much  to  his  life  ;  but  his  life  gave  also  much  to  them. 
And  the  human  eyes  looking  out  through  their  sadness 
of  personal  bereavement  from  the  carriages  of  the 
funeral  cortege,  saw  in  them  a  thousand  signs  (accord- 
ing to  the  pathetic  fallacy  of  humanity)  of  like  sadness 
and  bereavement. 

Thus  it  is,  that  one  beholden  to  him  for  a  long  life's 
endowment  of  affection,  help,  and  encouragement, 
judges  it  meet  that  a  chronicle  begun  under  his  aus- 
pices, to  which  he  contributed  so  richly  from  his  mem- 
ory, and  of  whose  success  he  was  so  tenderly  solicitous, 
should  end,  as  it  began,  with  a  tribute  to  his  memory 
and  name, 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


T 


'HE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  the 
volumes    in    Macmillan's     New     Travel     Series. 


THE  TRAVEL  SERIES 

Published  by 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 


Decorated  cloth,  rounded  corners,  each  $2.00  net 


BATES  —  Spanish  Highways  and  Byways 

By  KATHARINE  LEE  BATES,  Professor  of  English  Literature,  Wellesley  Col. 
lege.     With  some  forty  illustrations  from  photographs. 

The  book  is  a  delightful  record  of  impressions  received  by  a  visitor  to  that 
strange  deep-rooted  lile  shut  away  from  modern  Europe  by  the  Pyrenees. 
Few  descriptions  succeed  in  rendering  so  well  the  poetic  charm  of  the 
Peninsula  and  the  peculiarly  Spanish  graciousness  of  its  people. 

EARLE — Stage  Coach  and  Tavern  Days 

With  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  illustrations. 

A  study  of  the  days  of  leisurely  travel  in  America  by  ALICE  MORSE 
EARLE,  author  of  "  Home  Life  in  Colonial  Davs,"  etc.,  etc. 

"  The  author  is  thoroughly  at  home  in  dealing  with  the  picturesque  days 
ofpiimitive  travel,  and  her  delightful  pages  form  as  vivid  a  presentment 
of  the  subject  as  anybody  is  likely  to  ask  for.  The  illustrations  are  profuse 
and  well  executed,  giving  just  the  aid  needed  to  a  thorough  apprecia- 
tion of  the  text."  —  The  Dial. 


HALE  — Tarry  at  Home  Travels 

The  two  hundred  fine  illustrations  from  interesting  prints,  paintings,  portraits,  and 
photographs  are  of  Dr.  EDWARD  EVERETT  KALE'S  own  collecting. 

A  series  of  informal  talks  of  places  and  people  in  our  o\vn  country  to 

which  Dr.  Hale  brings  a  wealth  of  association  such  as  hardly  another  man 

can  supply,  along  lines  both  personal  and  historic. 

"  Dr.   Hale  always  treats  his  reader  as  a  personal  friend,  and   chats  with 

him   about  men    and   things    out   of  a    full   store   of   knowledge    and   with 

abundant  personal  anecdote,  apt  literary  illustration  and  historic  parallel 

.   .   .  high  ideals  and  generous  patriotism." —  1'he  Outlook. 

"  Dr.    Hale   draws   upon  an  unequalled  treasury  of  memories.     His  new 

book  takes  him   into  nearly  ail  the  thirteen  original  states,  and  in  each  he 

was  involved  in  activities  which  are  peculiarly  illuminating."  —  St.  Louis 

Globe- Democrat. 


THE  TRAVEL  SERIES  —  Continued 


HOWE  — Boston:    The  Place  and  the  People 

By  M.  A.  DEWOLFE  HOWE.     With  over  one  hundred  illustrations,  including 
full-page  half-tones  and  many  drawings  especially  executed  for  this  volume. 

"  There  is  a  familiar  intimacy  throughout  the  book  that  is  very  refreshing. 
It  could  not  be  had  from  study  alone,  nor  from  a  season's  sojourn  here. 
Boston  and  the  author  have  been  long  acquainted.  He  has  seen  and 
heard  and  lived  her  history.  But  his  book  is  not  a  diary,  nor  a  local 
chron,icle,  nor  a  guide  to  antique  Boston.  There  is  now  and  then  a  fact 
new  to  most  of  us;  very  frequently  a  new  point  of  view,  and  all  along  a 
succession  of  fresh  illustrative  sayings,  allusions  and  anecdotes,  witty, 
pithy,  and  humorous ;  but  never  a  descent  to  gossip,  nor  an  entry  simply 
for  the  sake  of  a  record  unentered  heretofore.  ...  It  is  the  exceeding 
humanness  of  Mr.  Howe's  history  that  makes  it  so  new  and  readable.  'A 
person,'  he  says,  '  is  often  the  best  illustration  of  a  tendency.'  Boston  has 
always  been  a-sizzle  with  tendencies,  and  for  every  one  of  them  Mr.  Howe 
finds  the  illustrative  man.  His  quiet  humor,  unfailing  insight,  and  swift 
characterization  make  all  these  men  a  very  live  and  interesting  company. 
.  .  .  To  say  that  for  solid  worth  as  history,  and  for  human  interest  and 
literary  quality,  it  is  as  good  as  its  companion  volume  on  Philadelphia  is 
commendation  enough,  for  Agnes  Repplier  is  the  writer  of  that  volume." 
—  The  Boston  Transcript. 

JOHNSON  — Among  English  Hedgerows 

By  CLIFTON  JOHNSON.     With  over  a  hundred  illustrations  from  photographs 
by  the  author,  and  an  Introduction  by  HAMILTON  W.  MABIE. 

"  The  book  deserves  to  succeed,  not  only  in  America,  but  in  the  country 

which  it  so  lovingly  depicts." —  The  Spectator,  London. 

"  The  chief  charm  of  Mr.  Johnson's  work  lies  in  the  enchanting  simplicity 

with  which  he  records  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  country." —  The 

Nation. 

"  Wherever  the  author  travels  he  exercises  the  lovable  faculty  of  seeing 

what  is  lovable." — •  The  Evening  Telegraph. 

JOHNSON  — Along  French  Byways 

By  CLIFTON   JOHNSON.     Illustrated  from   seventy-five  original  photographs, 
forty-eight  full-page  plates,  and  many  vignettes  in  the  text. 

"  Gives  a  singularly  faithful   and  complete  and  well-balanced  idea  of  the 

French  peasantry  and  French  rural  life,  manners,  and  customs." — Boston 

Herald. 

"  We  follow  our  guide  with  deepening  interest  to  the  end  of  his  tour.     His 

pictures   are   charming  and  so  is  the  whole  book."  —  London  Quarterly 

Review. 


THE  TRAVEL  SERIES— Continued 


JOHNSON  — The  Isle  of  the  Shamrock 

By  CLIFTON  JOHNSON.     Illustrated  from  seventy-five  original  photographs  by 
the  author. 

"A  most  interesting  book,  full  of  lively  sketches  and  anecdotes." — -London 
Daily  News. 

"  One  of  the  most  informing  books  about  Ireland  and  the  conditions  of 
the  Irish  folk  in  the  country  and  small  towns  that  has  been  published  in  a 
long  time."  —  Brooklyn  Eagle. 

JOHNSON  — The  Land  of  Heather 

By  CLIFTON  JOHNSON.     Illustrated  from  seventy-five  original  photographs  by 
the  author. 

"  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  keen  observer  and  has  the  literary  gift  of  apt  expression 
in  a  marked  degree." —  Dundee  (Scotland)  Advertiser. 
"  Not  only  Scotchmen,  but  every  student  of  human  nature  will  be  pleased 
with  this  entertaining  book.     It  describes  typical  people  and  scenes  with 
much  sympathy  and  appreciation."  —  Brooklyn.  Standard  Union. 

KING  —  New  Orleans:    The  Place  and  the  People 

Neither  history  nor  guide  book,  but  a  description  of  New  Orleans  rich  in  attractive- 
ness and  profusely  illustrated.  By  GRACK  KING,  author  of  "  Balcony  Stories," 
etc.  With  83  illustrations  drawn  by  Frances  E.  Jones. 

"It  is  a  delightful  book,  and  is  beautifully  illustrated.  .  .  .  Few  people 

could  have  done  the  work  so  well,  none  could  have  done  it  better  than 

Miss  King."  —  A'ew  Orleans  Picayune. 

"  '  New  Orleans  :  The  Place  and  the  People '  is  a  work  which  will  appeal  to 

Northern  as  well  as  Southern  readers,  and  for  this  excellent  work  too  high 

praise  cannot  be  given." —  Chicago  Evening  Post. 

''  One  of  the  most  readable  books  that  has  appeared  for  years.   .  .  .  This 

is  a  triumph  of  literary  art,  and  when  it  is  added  that  the  pictures  are  as 

clever  as   the   text,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  book  is  noteworthy."  —  San 

I'rancisco  Chronicle. 

MABIE  —  Backgrounds  of  Literature 

By  HAMILTON  \V.  MABIE,  Editor  of  The  Outlook.     With  forty-six  full-page 
plates  from  photographs. 

In  the  later  edition  where  a  chapter  on  Hawthorne's  country  is  added  to 
those  which  locali/.e  Irving,  \Vordsworth,  Emerson,  Goethe,  Whitman, 
Scott,  and  Lorna  Doone.  Of  the  chapter  on  "America  in  Whitman's 
Poetry"  the  New  York  Evening  Post  remarks:  "  It  is  one  of  the  best 
studies  of  Whitman  that  has  ever  been  written,  not  forgetting  Mr.  Stead- 
man's  in  his  '  Poets  of  America.'  " 


THE  TRAVEL  SERIES  —  Continued 


RAVENEL  — Charleston:    The  Place  and  the  People 

By  Mrs.  ST.  JULIEN  RAVENEL.  Illustrated  from  photographs  and  in  drawings 
by  Vernon  Howe  Bailey. 

Mrs.  Ravenel  has  described  delightfully  those  events  in  its  history  which 
have  done  the  most  to  shape  the  present  city,  or  which  best  illustrate  the 
character  of  the  place  and  its  people.  In  its  special  charm  it  is  as  if  one 
of  the  "  King's  Port  ladies  "  had  stepped  out  of  "  Lady  Baltimore  "  to  relate 
a  story  with  all  the  gentle  intimacy  of  a  family  chronicle. 

REPPLIER  — Philadelphia:    The  Place  and  the  People 

By  AGNES  REPPLIER.     With  eighty-two  illustrations  by  Ernest  C.  Peixotto. 

"  Miss  Repplier  has  written  con  amore.  She  knows  her  material  thor- 
oughly, and  has  very  sympathetic  feeling  for  her  city,  although  she  is  not 
blind  to  its  faults  as  revealed  in  its  history,  nor  to  its  defects  of  taste  as 
disclosed  by  its  architecture.  .  .  .  This  volume  will  take  its  place  among 
those  foot-notes  on  history  which  are  as  interesting  as  the  history  itself."  — 
The  Outlook. 

WINTER  — Gray  Days  and  Gold.      In  England  and  Scotland 

By  WILLIAM  WINTER.     With  over  one  hundred  illustrations,  including  twelve 
full-page  plates  in  photogravure. 

Descriptions  of  the  gray  days  of  an  American  wanderer  in  the  British 
islands  and  of  the  gold  of  thought  and  fancy  that  can  be  found  there.  The 
mood  is  that  of  contemplation  and  revery,  passing  restfully  from  one 
beautiful  thing  to  another,  uttering  simply  whatever  is  suggested  to  an 
imaginative  mind  by  scenes  venerable  with  historic  antiquity  and  tenderly 
alive  with  poetic  and  romantic  association. 

WINTER  —  Shakespeare's  England 

By  WILLIAM  WINTER.     With  many  illustrations  from  photographs,  old  prints, 
and  specially  executed  drawings. 

'He  offers  something  more  than  guidance  to  the  American  traveller.     He 
is  a  convincing   and    eloquent   interpreter   of  the   august   memories   and 
venerable  sanctities  of  the  old  country."  —  Saturday  Review. 
"  Enthusiastic  and  yet  keenly  critical  notes  and  comments  on  English  life 
and  scenery."  —  Scotsman. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS.    64-66   FIFTH  AVENUE.   NEW  YORK 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


JAN  1  6  19SS 

SRLF 
BARTER  LOAN 


A     000165410     2 


